A STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR THE FACULTY OF THE UP COLLEGE OF LAW

SUB JUDICE, SUB-STIFLING: A STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR THE FACULTY OF THE UP COLLEGE OF LAW

We are proud alumni of the University of the Philippines College of Law, who have been taught well by our teachers not to pass off the work of others as ours. In the University, intellectual achievement is so important that claiming credit for someone elses idea or creation is one of the most serious offenses that one could commit.

We are members of a profession that believes in the importance of the freedom of speech. We believe that the sub judice rule should never be used to stifle public discussion or to prohibit public exercise of the constitutional right to free speech. The courts should allow and never intervene in the free discussion of views by the public at large on various aspects of an ongoing trial, no matter how potentially socially volatile the issues may be.

We are lawyers and law graduates who, as professionals, make it a point to cite our sources whenever an idea is not originally ours. Contrary to the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, we are not being hypocrites when we expect nothing less from the Court. Its members are supposed to set the standards of honesty, honor, integrity, and competence; we are supposed to look up to them as our examples, and anything short of that diminishes their credibility.

We are making this statement to express our full support for the faculty of the UP College of Law. We feel personally aggrieved by the show-cause order issued by the Court against them because it runs contrary to everything that the law stands for. It concerns us because it concerns the honor, integrity, and competence of the members of the judiciary, whom we are supposed to emulate.

We are appalled by the turn of eventsthat the perpetrators/plagiarists are being absolved, while those who simply made a stand are the ones that stand to be penalized. Is this what has become of our judicial system?

We, therefore, join the faculty of the UP College of Law in calling for the resignation of the erring justice and everyone who had a part in the commission of plagiarism in the case of Vinuya vs. Executive Secretary. We call on the members of the Supreme Court to be the role models that they are supposed to be. We are asking them to recall the show-cause order issued against our teachers.

If the faculty will be cited in contempt, then let the Court cite all of us.