First, let me extend a very warm welcome to the many new Filipino readers that have discovered this blog in the past 24 hours. My husband is from Australia, so I do get down to that part of the world on occasion and I hope to visit your beautiful country at some point in the future.
It is great to have you here, although the circumstances of our meeting are, to say the least, unusual.
It seems one of your esteemed Senators, Tito Sotto, plagiarized a blog post I wrote on February 23, 2011 entitled How The Pill Can Harm Your Future Child’s Health, lifting entire sections of the article basically word for word that was delivered in a speech to the Senate Floor regarding the possible passage of the highly controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
What’s worse, Senator Sotto is denying the charge of plagiarism, saying in an interview with ABS-CBN:
“Why would I quote the blogger? I was quoting Natasha McBride.”
Nice touch Senator. Â You almost had me convinced you were a nice guy with the tears and all.
Many of your citizens have emailed me assuring me that was a put on, and I’m starting to think they are right.
A thief is a thief, Mr. Senator. Â Denying it doesn’t get you off the hook; it just makes you a lying thief.
On the bright side, I am thrilled that your lapse of moral judgment has brought much-needed attention to the fact that the birth control pill can have devastating consequences to a woman’s long term health and possibly those of her children and even grandchildren.  Gut dysbiosis is a serious condition that has multi-generational consequences that women need to be educated about and completely aware of before making the very personal decision to use them.
It was indeed brave of you to take this controversial position. Â Kudos to you for that.
By the way, I am truly sorry for the loss of your son.
As the mother of two sons myself, I can only imagine the pain and devastation you have felt from such an experience.
While this has been a highly charged and hopefully enlightening experience for all involved, it’s time now to set the drama aside and get back to fighting the good fight by continuing to educate people about how their food and pharma choices affect not only themselves but also those they dearly love.
And although my attorney will likely try to persuade me otherwise, for now I’m moving on as I’ve got work to do.
Women of the Philippines: I am terribly sorry my blog was used and twisted against you. You deserve the choice to use The Pill if you want or need to based on your particular circumstances. While I want you to know that this choice has health consequences as does the decision to use any pharmaceutical drug, I in no way would ever condone taking this choice away from you! Â Mabuhay!
Abstinence? Really RosalindaL? I’m not sure if you’re a bitter virgin or a blog-commenting nun, but your suggestion is kaput. And why were you giving Bart such a hard time for saying he’s poor who wants to have his choice of either taking contraception or not? Are YOU poor to be speaking for the poor? You’re not. So why do you assume all poor people DON’T want the RH Bill?? RH will educate people; rich or poor. It will not forcibly stuff anyone’s mouth of what you say is a poisonous whatever.
What that idiot of a senator did was dead wrong. In fact, they are grounds for a LAWSUIT. I strongly suggest you considering suing his a** because I have a very strong feeling this will escalate/worsen. He had absolutely NO RIGHT to plagiarize and put someone down for being a blogger. He is evidently a chauvinistic pig. He and his stupid staff obviously do not have the diligence to put in the necessary work to either credit people for their work much less to produce sentences on their own accord without having to “copy and paste” someone verbatim. Pardon my French, “Sue the Muthaf*ckaaa!”
I am just wondering if this thing.. plagiarism and not doing proper research, could be considered a betrayal of public trust… I mean, he is floor leader and is expected to do his very best to serve his country men. The people trust him to carry their best interest at hand… so doing a haphazard job on something as big as this… hmmmm betrayal of public trust??? what do you think? cause if it is… IMPEACH!!! hahahaha that would make those politicians think twice about lazily doing their jobs…
Saying sorry without even a hint of sincerity is like saying, “What??? Huh! I did not copy any.” The chief of staff is being true to himself – arrogant and “carabuena”. It’s better to say sorry + + +…than be sorry but with a BUT after. Whew!!!
Im not surprised. This is the funny thing in PHL Politics.
an actor turned comedian turned senator who becomes a thief and a lying thief.
…and an unremorseful HYPOCRITE as well, Rhen!
Please do yourself and an entire country a favor and sue him.
He’s an idiot and an embarrassment. Ridiculous, pointless man.
Thank you! I’m glad to know you support reproductive health. It’s disgusting that a SENATOR blindly copied facts from your blog without understanding the context in which you wrote them, and then DENYING it and even scoffing that he’d be accused of copying from a BLOGGER.
Hi, Sarah! It is refreshing to see your response to one of our “esteemed” public officials plagiarizing material from your blog to be used in denying the people a right to manage their families as they see fit. You have handled the situation impeccably, and I feel terrible that you had to be dragged in to a debate that should (understandably) not be your concern. Nonetheless, your input is appreciated and welcomed.
Yes, I agree that contraceptives (as with almost any pharmaceutical product) have their side effects and contraindications. Yes, I agree that when considering such means of birth control, one has to weigh the pros and cons, and its short, medium and long-term effects on themselves and those around them.
No, I do not agree to members of the family (especially the mothers/mothers-to-be) being denied the basic right to the knowledge and means of managing a family for their own good, as well as that of everyone else. No, I do not agree to blind opposition to legislation merely on disinformation, hearsay, lies and vitriol.
So with that, it is a pleasure to have come across you and your blog. We do hope you consider a visit here in the near future, and you will get the warmest welcome on this side of the Pacific. Guaranteed.
And yes, you have my thumbs up to sue the Honorable Senator Tito Sotto for plagiarism since it has now been proven without question. If someone with the reach of CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria could own up to making such a grievous lapse in judgment, surely a legislator from some country in Southeast Asia should have been capable of doing the same. Cheers!
Hi Sarah,
I appreciate you taking the high road on this issue of plagiarism, intellectual property is of little value to some people sometimes. Sad that the debate about the RH Bill in the Phils. is now at your comments page, everybody convincing everyone else. I just don’t understand why people need to condone other’s opinions and views instead of just respecting and accepting that it is their decision in the end anyway, whether or not to use the pill, to inform their kids about sex ed and other issues attached to this.
Personally, I have been using the pill for 6 years now and don’t plan to stop despite the health risks. Why? At 28, I already have two kids (I had my first at 16 because no one told me it could be prevented…) and I dont want any more. However, I have been to 3 OB-Gyns and all of them denied me of my request for ligation. I told them that I wouldnt, that two was all I really wanted, that I already have a boy and a girl, that two kids is all that I could afford to spend for in my lifetime, that I didnt want to contribute to the ballooning population, that I had too much complications during my last pregnancy that Im still suffering from 5 years later that I would never want to go through it ever again. They said I was too young, I might change my mind later; one even said, “if one of your kids die, you may want to have another one to replace it,” wtf, right? So here I am, at 34 and still taking these damned expensive pills daily so that I wont get pregnant again.
To the people who say abstinence: try to convince your husband about it first, then let him talk to mine and all the other husbands that women have all over the country (yeah, you dont have one, I thought so).
Hi Sarah,
I appreciate you taking the high road on this issue of plagiarism, intellectual property is of little value to some people sometimes. Sad that the debate about the RH Bill in the Phils. is now at your comments page, everybody convincing everyone else. I just don’t understand why people need to condone other’s opinions and views instead of just respecting and accepting that it is their decision in the end anyway, whether or not to use the pill, to inform their kids about sex ed and other issues attached to this.
Personally, I have been using the pill for 6 years now and don’t plan to stop despite the health risks. Why? At 28, I already have two kids (I had my first at 16 because no one told me it could be prevented…) and I dont want any more. However, I have been to 3 OB-Gyns and all of them denied me of my request for ligation. I told them that I wouldnt, that two was all I really wanted, that I already have a boy and a girl, that two kids is all that I could afford to spend for in my lifetime, that I didnt want to contribute to the ballooning population, that I had too much complications during my last pregnancy that Im still suffering from 5 years later that I would never want to go through it ever again. They said I was too young, I might change my mind later; one even said, “if one of your kids die, you may want to have another one to replace it,” wtf, right? So here I am, at 34 and still taking these damned expensive pills daily so that I wont get pregnant again.
To the people who say abstinence: try to convince your husband about it first, then let him talk to mine and all the other husbands that women have all over the country (yeah, you dont have one, I thought so).