SOTTO SLAMS CRITICS OVER PLAGIARISM

BY MACON RAMOS-ARANETA

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III slammed the pro-Reproductive Health group Filipino Freethinkers for accusing him of plagiarizing part of his turno en  contra speech against the RH bill, saying the group was out to impugn his credibility.

“They are just maligning me,” said Sotto who is against the RH bill, which aims to guarantee universal access to birth control methods and maternal care. He has said many international organizations including the group the United Nations Population Fund.

“They just want to destroy me since they cannot answer the issues I raised. They can’t answer them so they targeted me.”

The real problem, Sotto said, was that of all the things he mentioned in his speech, the pro-RH groups chose to react only on that matter. “I have said many explosives,” Sotto  said.

“Why did they concentrate here [the alleged plagiarism]? What’s important for them was to merely destroy me and besmirch me.”

Alfred Melgar had posted in the Filipino Freethinkers blog that part of Sotto’s turno en contra speech was lifted nearly word for word from the blog of “Sarah, the healthy home economist,” a US-based writer who also opposes vaccines for children and offers recipes for goodies like grain-free pumpkin cookies.

“The one who wrote that blog or talked about this thing [plagiarism] was funny because he/she  didn’t listen to my speech for saying that I didn’t mention my source. Excuse me, they’re wrong! I mentioned my source!” Sotto said.

He said he had always cited in his speeches the sources of his information.

“I always say a blanket disclosure that these are not from me, so what’s plagiarism here?”

Sotto said it had also been the first time that he had heard of the blogger cited by Filipino Freethinkers. He said it seemed that he and “Sarah” had both been quoting from the book of Natasha Campbell-McBride, whom he cited in his speech.

“That blogger and I got the  information from the same source. We both quoted the book of Dr. Natasha Campbell. But I mentioned my source. If they blogged it, oh so? What’s wrong with that?” Sotto said. (end)