Slap him with facts.

Plagiarism is an issue that has long hounded speechwriters, literary and newspaper writers, and mostly, academicians. It is, however, a completely different matter in the Philippines where the vast majority do not put much premium on the value of literary thoughts and intellectual property rights.

In a country that thrives on pirated DVDs and Torrent downloads, it is quite a feat to remind everyone that one’s intellectual property deserves at the very least, a proper recognition. In the academe, literary trespass may be easier to discipline considering the provisions in the Student Handbook and the school’s rules and regulations. In the halls of the Supreme Court or Senate, on the other hand, penalties may be more difficult to impose, even if they ought to be more stringent than the usual.

In school, teachers always say that if you copy someone else’s work, and pass it off as your own, it is a direct reflection of the values you keep. However, in the Senate, it somehow mirrors one’s creativity and ingenuity to borrow other people’s idea and directly claim it as one’s own. Notwithstanding the brandishing of rhetoric as nothing irregular or no violation in any provision of the law, the starkness of intellectual trespass seems truly undeniable.

Reports of late mentioned Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, got offended by Sen. Sotto’s act of lifting a famous passage from the speech of her father. She said, “I urge that he (Sen. Sotto) apologize for his unethical, unsanctioned theft of Robert Kennedy’s intellectual property and the intellectual property of all those whose work he has plagiarized.” Moreover, she mentioned, “In addition, I am particularly offended to see a speech my father gave in support of global human rights distorted by Senator Sotto as an argument against the right to contraception. Expanding and protecting access to contraception is a global priority I have promoted for years, and limiting that freedom was in no way the topic of the 1966 Day of Affirmation speech.”

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The issue here goes beyond the provisions of Intellectual Property Code or the debates on the RH Bill. The issue lies on the basic tenets of decency and moral obligation, which require an acknowledgment of one’s source, particularly in intellectual compass. In the event of an intellectual (or psychological) lapse, the act of admitting one’s mistake becomes more than necessary. However, it seems that the barometer for moral ascendancy has gone to the dogs, and we are all left to fathom the ways of the world.

We get it. We all make mistakes, some graver than others. But it seems that the tumultuous episodes in our existence had been defined by a few dickheads (be it an individual or an organization) who found it hard to admit their mistakes and instead made everybody else adhere to their own absurd tendencies.

In school, you copy someone else’s work. You get a failing mark, or you get expelled. No questions asked.