Rodriguez, Joanna Stephanie P.

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“PLAGIARISM: Stealing One’s Intellect”
“Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.”1 Everyone is inspired by this quote of famous
Pablo Picasso. Almost every person making an article, book, essay, or speech used ideas from
other write-ups. Most used the exact words of their sources. However, a lot of these writers do
not acknowledge their sources; rather, they possess the write-up as if it were their own idea. This
act is known as PLAGIARISM.

Under the Advisory Opinion No.2, s. 2002 of the Department of Justice (DOJ),
“Plagiarism is a concept more understood in academic circles as an offense against academic
integrity anathema to the strict standards of originality of scholarly works which members of the
academic community subscribe to.” In other words, plagiarism, in a student’s deed, is copying
one’s answer without acknowledging the owner of the answer copied. It is, in a writer’s act,
copying and pasting one’s phrase in an article without putting citation. Lastly, it is, in a speaker’s
piece, telling someone’s words without acknowledging the original speaker. These acts are very
disrespectful to the owners of the original ideas/pieces.

The Supreme Court described plagiarism as “deliberate and knowing presentation of

another person’s original ideas or creative expression as one’s own”, and it was stressed out that
if it were committed under certain circumstances, can amount to a criminal offense of
Intellectual Property Code, the E-Commerce Act or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.2 Therefore,
the act of plagiarism should not be encouraged nor abused.

The government needs to regulate the act of plagiarism as it is widely abused in the
country. The Department of Justice, through Justice Secretary Leila Delima, made an advisory
opinion on 18th day of September, 2012 which states five (5) advisory points on this issue in
order to regulate/minimize the acts of plagiarism.

First advisory point is that plagiarism should be avoided, regardless of the presence of
sanctions against it. “Avoiding something doesn’t always mean that you hate it. It could also
mean that you want it but you know it isn’t right.” Plagiarism is one way of steeling one’s idea.
Avoiding plagiarism does not concern of the legal aspect, but of the spiritual and moral aspect.
This will serve as a natural obligation, one way to show respect to other’s idea and most of all
give respect to one’s own capacity. As the saying goes, “Cheating is not an art; it is an insult to
one’s intellect.”

The second advisory point is to cultivate the habit of attribution and when in doubt, cite.
Violations of the Intellectual Property Code, E-commerce Code, and Cybercrime Prevention Act
are punishable under the law. These violations may be done through plagiarism. However,
regardless whether there is punishment or not, plagiarism should be discouraged. In the new

1
R. Glenn. ArtQuotes. (http://www.art-quotes.com/getquotes.php?catid=228#.VYbFvfmqqko) Retrieved June 21,
2015.
2
DOJ. Advisory Opinion No. 2, series of 2002, September 18, 2012. Page 2
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generations, anyone can access information through the internet anytime, anywhere. In order for
one to protect himself from charges of plagiarism, one should cultivate his habit of attributing the
sources of the information gathered. When in doubt if the information is already known to the
public, cite. When in doubt if the idea is already used previously, cite. When in doubt, cite! This
is to protect oneself from charges against plagiarism. According to Advisory Opinion No. 2 of
DOJ, “Unnecessary or superfluous citation is better than no citation at all.”3

The third point is “Everyone can be a victim of plagiarism.” One way of people’s
expression of feelings is posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Millions of people use
these sites reading different statuses from different people. Anyone can copy or use these
information, claim them as if they were their own and spread them to the world. This is an act of
plagiarism. Some ask permission from their friend that they can use the status, but did not cite
the friend’s name during the certain information was used. This is still plagiarism and one may
still be sanctioned of such offense. In order to avoid it, cite.

Fourth, “Always be vigilant in detecting cases of plagiarism.” Once one knows whether
or not an act is plagiarism or not, he will be protected from charges against plagiarism. Also, he
will know the value of one’s intellect. The perfect people who need these skills are the teachers
and professors. Once they can detect whether the work is plagiarized, they can teach their
students to respect the work of others and to value their intellects and capabilities.

Lastly, “Encourage the institutions to adopt anti-plagiarism measures.” According to

Advisory Opinion No. 2 of DOJ, “the value of intellectual honesty and integrity should not be
purely academic concern.” Plagiarism is not only done by students, but by professionals as well.
The DOJ is taking steps through issuing Advisory Opinion No. 2 to minimize and eventually
scratch out the act of plagiarism in the country. Although this is not a crime, plagiarism is a
malicious act that reflects on the character of a person. The government is trying to build a good
reputation of our country around the world and we wouldn’t want to ruin it because of
plagiarism. We wouldn’t want to be called “thieves of information.” We need to stop stealing
ideas. We need to stop plagiarism.

A quote from Wu Guan-Zhong will remind us why it is insulting to do plagiarism. “If you
plagiarize others' techniques, you steal their emotions and tell your spectators a lie with your work.
Works as such equal zero.”4

3
DOJ. Advisory Opinion No. 2, series of 2002, September 18, 2012. Page 8
4
Good Reads. (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/plagiarism) Retrieved June 22, 2015.