Senator Tito Sotto Apologizes to the Kennedys Over Plagiarism Issue

Philippine Senator Tito Sotto apologized to the Kennedy family on Tuesday, November 13.

Ms. Kerry Kennedy, the president of the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, accused Senator Sotto of plagiarizing the famous 1966 Day of Affirmation speech of her father, the late Senator Robert Kennedy.  In her letter to Sotto, she pointed out that he “flagrantly and deceptively” plagiarized Kennedy’s speech.  She added, “This is a clear case of plagiarism.”

In his privilege speech, Senator Sotto said, “Copying is the highest form of flattery, but if it upsets the Kennedy family then I’m sorry but that is not the intention we have when we used it.”   He was referring to his September RH Bill speech in which he quoted Senator Kennedy’s speech in Filipino version but without attribution.

Later, Sotto brushed aside the accusation and adamantly denied plagiarism.

Well, he can give whatever reason he can conjure up in his head.  But at the end of the day, people would still label him as the Plagiarizing Philippine Senator.  In fact at this moment, the social media (facebook & twitter), bloggers and news network are back again raging on this plagiarism issue.

Worry not, Mr. Senator, the Internet wild fire will soon settle down.

There is one problem though — History won’t forgive you.

_______________________________________

Here’s the speech.