For those who have been following my post on plagiarism in Philippine Star, I got a copy of Mayenne Carmona’s apology that appeared in her column last weekend. Big thanks to Bette, one of the readers of this blog, for sending these to my email this afternoon.

The apology in that little corner

Here’s the apology verbatim:

I would like to apologize to my readers for my article last week, “Whom Not to Marry”. The wisdom of Fr. Pat Connor was not from a personal interview I had with him. In as much as I put his teachings in quotations, it was an oversight on my part not to have written that the source of his quotations and other parts of my article were from the column of Maureen Dowd, July 6, in The New York Times. — Mayenne Carmona

Related posts:
Was that indicative plagiarism?

Update on Mayenne Carmona’s Plagiarism

I don’t mind not being responded by the editor. But the mere fact that they deleted the article was more than an acknowledgment of their shortcomings (rather than saying a big fault by the editor, the writers are presumably writing in good faith) and irresponsible writing.

Until yesterday, I got a comment from Bette, one of the readers of this blog. She wrote,

because of this post, inabangan ko tuloy if she will say something. aba! last sunday, she wrote a very short apology in her column. you might want to check it out.

The Philippine Star and other local broadsheets from the Philippines are not available in UAE. Hence, I have no idea how the very short apology in Mayenne Carmona’s column went out. So if you have the means to track what she actually wrote in last sunday’s issue, you may refer to it (and share with us).

I have nothing against Philippine Star and Mayenne Carmona. It’s just that I regularly read New York Times (where she copied an article), and I occasionally browse Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star and other broadsheets’ online version. Regardless of the newspaper, I will do the same. I’m no professional writer but just a blogger enjoying my little space in the blogosphere. But I think it’s my (and yours, too) responsibility ‘to police’ anything that is too obvious to miss.

But I must say, that because of that ‘copying’ made by Mayenne Carmona, I sort of doubted her previous writings. I mean, how much of those were sugarcoated? Generally, it didn’t only affect Ms. Carmona. But the impression on Philippine Star itself, other broadsheets, and to top it all, all the Filipino writers.

Whether we are writers, professional bloggers, or not, I hope we all learned something from this. It wouldn’t hurt to be responsible in action and in words.

Over the weekend, I read the ‘almost’ same article in a Philippine broadsheet. In the Lifestyle Section of Philippine Star, Mayenne Carmona had a post which was titled the same, ‘Whom Not To Marry’. The title is not the issue. But she wrote all the same points written in NY Times with a little pinching of salt of the ‘story of her divorced friend’.

Okay. Give her the benefit of the doubt. Let’s pretend that’s purely concidental (oh, wow).  But, check the closing statements:

In NY Times article, July 6 issue:

“After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: ‘But you’ve eliminated everyone!’ Life is unfair.”

In Philippine Star article, August 2 issue:

“How am I going to find a new husband?” sighed my newly divorced friend. “He just about eliminated everyone! Life is not fair.”

I am wondering if the lifestyle editor of Philippine Star is aware of this indicative plagiarism. To the writer, I think there is a double whammy there. Father Pat Connor is a 79-year old priest and not 70.

As we, or as most bloggers do, we do put a link back to or mention the source of our article and photo, whenever applicable. Well, that’s very basic, especially if you are writing for a broadsheet.   Will it hurt to mention the source? If yes, then don’t plagiarize.

Oh well, I don’t think my post is aptly titled. Should I delete indicative? You may check the above links to judge.