Sotto unfazed by plagiarism complaints

Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III is not worried about the ethics complaint filed against him.
 
In fact, the senate majority leader is confident that the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges will immediately dismiss it once he gives his explanation.
 
"I am very confident that it will not reach that (voting of senators). I am sure they can already decide there once and for all when it comes to presentation of evidence and answer," Sotto said.


Sotto said the complaint will not prosper considering that Senate documents can attest he never claimed ownership to the texts he copied from various American bloggers.
 
He also explained Senate journals will absolve him from accusations that he "mangled" some parts of late US Senator Robert Kennedy’s speech.

"If you take a look at the journals of the Senate, the members of Ethics committee who were not there when I delivered the speech, they would see the need to dismiss it," he explained.


"The problem is they relied on the copy of the draft speech. The copy sent to the US blogger was based on the draft speech. That's a piece of paper, that is not my speech," he insisted.

He also trusts that Senator Pia Cayetano, a staunch supporter of Reproductive Health bill against which his speeches were thrown, will not influence her brother Senator Alan Peter.

Alan Peter heads the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges and has been calling a meeting to establish rules on the ethics hearing against Sotto.

At the same time, Sotto reminded complainants--composed of bloggers and university professors--to read Senate rules concerning the committee on ethics.



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