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!
Please forgive my fellow Filipino for he does not know what he is doing. He thought of his speech as scripts in Eat Bulaga.
kung kutyain natin yong senador NATIN para namang ang sama sama na. stick to the point lang tayo….ano na ba ang nagawa nang mga blogger na ito sa ating bansa….crab mentality nga naman oh…sino ba tayo para mag malinis…..tayong mga Pilipino ang lumalabas na nakakahiya dito….binabanatan natin yong taong napahiya na nga….he doesnt deserve this much negative publicity….nakalimutan na nga natin ang mga ginawa ni ERAP….mga pang aabuso ni MARCOS nakalimutan na natin….yong SENADOR NATIN na dio naman siguro kasingsama ng mga nauna kong sinabi ay binabalatan natin…..patay na patay kayo kay sarah pope eh wala namang pakialam sa atin yan, mamatay man tayo lahat…
That’s precisely the point! If we stick to it. You are right that Ms. Pope doesn’t have to do anything with the issue with our country as per discussion or debate with the RH Bill. So why in the hell did Sotto used her work to be used in the Philippines in the first place. SO SI SOTTO ANG NAKIALAM AT HINDI SI MS. POPE.
Ang sinasagot nya ay hindi ang isyu ng RH Bill kungdi yung isyu ng PAGNAKAW ni sotto sa trabaho nya.
CORRECT Erwin!
ano ba ang ba ang ninakaw na kini claim ni pope iyong idea ni mcbride na kinopya din niya? ikaw ang mag isip erwin. ibig mong sabihin kapag nag blog si pope tungkol sa theory of evolution ni darwin eh kanya na ang kredito? hindi ba kapag nag speech ang kahit sinong tao at binanggit ang theroy ni darwin si pope ba ang dapat i-acknowledge? paki sagot mo muna bago mo akusahan ang kababayan mo nang pagnanakaw ng idea.
“trabaho” ni Ms. Sara? ano bang trabaho niya ang sinasabi mo dito Erwin? Ang pag-plagiarized niya (Sara) sa TRABAHO ni DR. Campbell-McBride? Hindi naman si Saraang may ari nung impormasyon na yun kundi si Dr. Campbell McBride, Paano nanakawin sa kanya yun? NAIINTINDIHAN MO BA KUNG SINO ANG TUNAY NA NAGNANAKAW DITO NG TRABAHO NG MAY TRABAHO? Stupid!!!
i agree with choy batski. crab mentality nga naman. masyadong pinalaki tong walang ka kwenta kwentang bagay. imbes na problemahin yung mga walang hiyang politiko na wala naman naitutulong sa sambayanan inuuna pa to.
erwin wag ka na nga magingles dinugo ilong ko sa kakatry i figure out kung ano ibig sabihin mo. pareho ka sa mga pinoy dito sa US na nagpipilit mag ingles – pa kool nga ba.
shut the f up. it’s people like you who let these kind of people get away with so much shit.
choy, sen sotto deserves all the negative publicity because he brought it on himself. he did a wrong thing, denied it and then wants to get away with it. is this the kind of politician we want to lead our country out of poverty? even more than the plagiarism, he used the opinion of someone else to promote his own twisted agenda.
dapat malaman ito ng lahat ng pilipino at hindi pagtakpan. kung pabayaan natin ang maga lider na ganito, talagang hindi tayo uunlad. it has nothing to do with siding with sarah pope on this, napakababaw ng sinabi mong “patay na patay kay sarah pope”. mag-isip ka naman ng masmalalim.
Hi Choy Batski, hindi naman sa kinukutya ng mga kapwa natin Pilipino si Senator Sotto. Personally, I am against his and his party’s demeanor after Pope claimed what’s hers and he threw an insult instead of an apology. Had Sotto been humble, admitted his mistake and apologized then all these trends would have ended.
You’re right, Pope has nothing to do with any issues in our country. But this is not about the RH Bill. This is about plagiarism. I understand you are defending the senator because isa ka din Pilipino. I admire you for that.
Also, agreeing with this American blogger that she has to fight for her intellectual property is not crab mentality. 🙂
I think guys/gals you are all forgetting to speak as much as possible in English (please)? You are all not in a Filipino’s blog but to a non-Filipino’s website, so do speak in English so everybody could understand what you are all saying. And try to refute each other without resorting to expletives.
Do forgive my fellowmen, Sarah. Sometimes emotions get ahead of them instead of using their brains.
In truth some of them are doing it intentionally so they can make snarky, passive aggressive comments, and not get caught by the owner of the blog.
This is a common tactic in the PI. Post something in tagalog that won’t be understood by the person you’re talking about. Pinoys are brave when they feel they won’t be caught (take Sotto for example). They only apologize and tuck tail between legs when caught and forced to face their mistakes. If not, they’re strutting around like they’re a VIP of some sort.
in more ways than one , the senator committed a mistake. when he denied plagiarizing an american blogger’s work, technically, he was correct because it wasnt him who made that speech, twas his aide, but all the same, he condoned to it somehow.let us stop there. isnt it selfish for a blogger to insist on public apology instead on looking at it on a wider perspective, on how the message was magnified to affect critical insights.
pero gusto ko pa rin magsalita sa tagalog kasi hindi naman pasikatan to eh, di naman kailangan na maintidihan ako ng mga katulad ni POPE, di naman ako kulang sa pansin at di ako hihingi ng apology dahil doon.pero siguro nga tama siya, pero wag naman na nilalait natin yong tao, napahiya na nga eh.ganito na lang; tingnan na lang natin kong masama ba o mabuti ang mensahe ng speech niya. kung nakabuti, pasalamatan natin si POPE kahit di na si TITO SEN. ayos ba yon….
Eh ikaw pala yong lumiko sa usapan CHOY eh. We are talking about how Mr. Sotto plagiarized the blog of Miss Sarah tapos umabot ka na kay Erap at Marcos? Huh?
This is why plagiarism is worst. Mr. Sotto who happened to be a Senator in the Phils, misquoted on what Sarah is trying to say in her post. He misled us in not using contraceptive pills because according to him, will affect the child and even the grandchildren. Choy, how will the Philippines grow economically if we still stick to traditional religions and beliefs that promote to this people not in favor of RH bill. This must have been executed long time ago given that Filipinos are mostly educated. Surely, this will help alleviate the problems and the worst economic situation in the Phils.
Oh man, crab mentality daw oh ang pagbanat sa isang plagiarist & nuknukan ng sinungaling! Kung kukunsinthihin ang ganitong nakakahiyang gawain (plagiarism), anong klaseng tao o bansa tayo? Tayo ba talaga lipi ng mga walanghiya at magnanakaw di lang ng pondo ng gobyerno pati ideya o akda ng iba? How low can we get, really, to condone such despicable shameful acts. No wonder that we have people like SC Asso. Justice del Castillo and Tito Sotto, “honorable?” they are supposed to be. Dapat nga sa mga taong tulad nila hagupitin ng husto para matauhan. Sa tutuo lang, ang bansang Pinas hindi natatawa sa punch line ni Sotto na wala raw plagiarism dahil halaw sa isang blog “lamang”.
Oo, tama ka, crab mentality! Pero ikinumpara mo kay ERAP? Kay MARCOS? Ibig sabihin ibinababa mo rin si ERAP! Pati si MARCOS! Baka ikaw ang nakakalimot ng iba nilang ginawa na nakapagpabuti sa ating bansa! Kung maka-kutya ka, parang yung komento mo, hindi rin “one-sided”! Tandaan mo mga ito, ha: Kay MARCOS, ang exchange rate ay $1=P7, mababa ang presyo ng langis; Kay ERAP naitaguyod ang Phil. Carabao Center, bukod dun, madami tayong sanda-mukal na ERAP JOKES! Pinoy din mga yun, a! Saka, let’s face it! PILIPINO TAYO! Nasa kultura din nating humingi ng paumanhin kapag may nangyaring mali, kahit na hindi tayo ang nauna! FILIPINO COURTESY, sa madaling sabi! Hindi ba’t yun ang totoong essence ng isang TOTOONG PILIPINO? Nawawala na ba talaga ang mga kaugaliang tulad ng ganito? Blogger? Madaming naitutulong ang mga yan! Kailangan lang natin silang makita in a different prospective! May ilang BLOGS na nagco-contribute sa mga research, kadalasan nga lang, hindi sila nabibigyang halaga! BLOGS are ONLINE BOOKS/JOURNALS!
Please sue him, teach him a lesson, I’m from the philippines, I DONT VOTE, its the people like Mr. Sotto that made me lose interest in voting. Please please sarah! Sue that idiot!!!
you should be sued for not voting
you don’t have the right to complain coz your not a voter!
He’s got no room at the senate! Forget about the drama (he’s from the show business anyway) because everything else is just “papogi” pretending to be an intellectual person but you are not.
Please go back to TVC (tito vic and joey) where you really belong.
This is WAY OUT OF LINE!sue the senator to help our nation? BAKIT ikayayaman pa ba natin yan e dagdag pending lawsuit lang yan dito sa pinas. RH bill nga hindi na nakausad usad tapos gagatungan pa ng ibang isyu. Napakahilig talaga ng Pinoy na palakihin pa isyu lalo na pag me involve na tiga ibang bansa.
“Send me that letter of apology I’ll post that on my blog and we can consider this issue done,” Pope added. – with ANC
Evidently MS. SARAH POPE is not that pathetic as you all are so she’s just now ignoring all the bogus comments that you have. Fortunately she has this american culture that an apology from the senator will do and it will END from there. WAY FAR from the filipino crab mentalism that you all are showcasing in your comments.
TAMA NA KA EPALAN AT WAG NA MAG POST PARA LNG MA MENTION SA MGA WRITE UP AT INTERVIEWS NG IBAT IBANG NETWORKS. LETS JUST HOPE FOR THE BEST FOR OUR COUNTRY. KESA MAG AKSAYA NG TIME DITO…
TUMULONG NALANG SA MGA NASALANTA NG HABAGAT & BAGYONG HELEN.
WE WON’T GAIN ANYTHING BY MAKING OTHERS LIFE MISERABLE. HINDI TAYO YAYAMAN SA PANINIRA NG KAPITBAHAY NATIN. KAYA DI NAUNLAD PINAS E.
@Atty Hector — Great apology. Toinks. Try this — google ‘heartfelt apology’ then copy verbatim lol. Try the ‘caps’ button too. It works wonders.
So the only thing original in that speech was the (teardrop/sniff/cry) cue. Wait…I heard that lifted from another blogger lol
Here’s the thing, Sotto and most of the politicians in the PI are from that special breed of douchebag that think themselves above everyone else. What they’re essentially saying is that it’s ok for a girl as young as 14 to give birth to as many babies as they want and that being educated regarding safe sex, stds, and having a safe birth are “against catholic church doctrine”.
Most of these women are at and below the poverty line. They can barely afford to feed themselves much less their children. Sotto lives in a lavish mansion surrounded by equally rich neighbors. These women don’t exist to them until election year when they show up en masse to buy their votes with a small sack of rice with their picture printed on it. They create a dire situation then use it to get a vote.
Please, sue Sotto. Give these women a voice they have long been denied. Show them that people like Sotto cannot and should not be allowed to behave like spoiled children and play with their lives. Give them hope.
Just like what others said, you should sue. By suing, you will give the people of the Philippines a chance to get rid of one dirty politician in our government.
He also said: “sue if you can”. A threat for all bloggers around the world that has been plagiarized or their content stolen without attribution.
To sue or not to sue? Just sue Sotto, and get it over with.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/17/12/sotto-acting-above-law-us-blogger-says-0