Comments on: Marketman Answers His Own Questions Regarding the Plagiarized Article on the DOT Website…

By: mayk

mayk — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:28:07 +0000

DOT did it again when will they ever learn?
Just saw it on Jessica Soho.
Using George Tapan’s picture without his permission…
It couldn’t get any more fun in the Philippines…

How funny that these happens during the watch of current secretary
As if Marketman’s issue never happen.
To think that this issue of plagiarism happens during their brainstorming of ItsMoreFunInthePhilipines campaign…
Tsk Tsk…

By: James

James — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:09:22 +0000

MM, in his previous comments, is correct. The DOT needs to worry more about the Philippines not being the most wonderful of tourist donations.

Taxis drivers operating around the airports used to nearly openly use two different sets of rate sheets. One official rate sheet in pesos, one un-official one in dollars. The dollar-based rate sheet is much, much more expensive.

There are still places that charge one price for locals, one price for foreigners. Quite openly.

Here is a typical conversation between me (a short, fat, white Americano living in Tacloban, Leyte) getting the fare to go from my Makati hotel to NAIA 2 (PAL airport terminal) to go home to Tacloban:

ME: Mag-kano sa airpot?

Driver: 500 pesos, sir. Special rate!

ME: (thinking) yeah, special for you
ME: Talaga?

Driver: Yes, sir.

ME: Grabe! Mahal! (expensive!)

Driver: OK, sir, 400.

ME: Sunud! (next, meaning, next taxi)

Driver: Sir, sir, wait sir. How much?

ME: Dos cientos (200)

Driver: OK, sir.

Only once have I had a taxi use the meter, as is required by law. The rest want to negotiate the rate.

There are some gorgeous things to see here. The trouble is getting to them is nearly impossible. What is listed as a 5-star hotel here is usually, at best, a 3-star hotel elsewhere. Roads are atrocious. Cell coverage is spotty. And, if you’re white, everyone will be looking to get extra money from you … starting from the hordes of children begging at the provincial airports.

Why do I stay? My wife’s family is here and I love it here. I have a lot of friends here (damo it akun pinoy nga barkada).

But, as a tourist, be careful. Many of the vendors here seem to think that white skin means extra income. Here’s another sample conversation I had at the local market (mercado) last week.

ME (holding a onion): Lola, tag-pera it kilo ini? (grandmother, how much per kilo of this?)

Older Vendor: 100, sir

ME: Talaga, lola? (Really, grandmother? It’s polite to refer to someone this way, as she was much older than me)

Older Vendor: Yes, sir. 100 per kilo.

ME: Sige, salamat po. (OK, (polite) thank you)

I move to the next vendor … younger than I am

ME: Dai, tag pera it kilo ini? (girl, how much is this per kilo?)

Younger Vendor: Quarenta, sir. (40, sir)

ME: Papalita ako ma-duha ka kilo. (I’ll buy two kilos)

Younger Vendor: Sige, sir (OK, sir)

Older Vendor: Sorry, sir. 40, sir. Sorry!

ME (to the older vendor): Pasencia. Sunud nala, lola. (sorry, next time, grandmother)

If you are a Philippine vendor, please pay attention to this: when a kano (white foreigner, short for Amerikano) comes to your stand, has a dark tan, and asks you questions entirely in your local dialect … they are local and know the right price already.

Keep up the good fight, MM!

By: MP

MP — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:04:36 +0000

Zerho, i echo your sentiments… letdown indeed. And to think I had high hopes for the DOT when Jimenez took the job…

By: marilen

marilen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:23:11 +0000

MM, they (DOT) would like to just sweep this under the rug – ‘they’ (goes likewise for all manner of blunder, fraud, mayhem caused by corporations, banks, airlines at iba iba pa) hope this will just blow over. A pox on plagiarists!!

By: lynn

lynn — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:02:25 +0000

The nom de plume sounds like a conjugation of a full name. So, the identity is right there in plain sight. ??? Perhaps. Plagiarism is one of the first real world lessons they teach in school.

By: sur

sur — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:50:40 +0000

[brushing up from my columbia law classes ;-) …+ suspecting that contracts works similarly as your common law] it’s irresponsible and a tenuous position for kaw to assert that trinaldero to have never been employed by anyone. responsibility can be readily gleaned and is clear as day; trinaldero is really an irrelevant/peripheral smokescreen. the contractual structure of the parties gives us DOT hiring Indra. consultant provide webpage development services in return. absent of a hacking [probable but this was never presented as an alibi], all deliverables [web pages published] are the responsibility of the consultant. [even if said consultant hired a sub, the prime contractor remains the party responsible]. simple.

the resolution should be this: DOT demands an acknowledgement of responsibility from consultant and an apology to MM.

By: rita

rita — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:57:51 +0000

OMG! did these people even go to school? at all? how uneducated and shameful of them to do such! could they go any lower than that?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:14:25 +0000

mabuhay, I think the identification of trinadelro, or the identification of the source from which INDRA picked up the page is the most important issue right now. If trinadelro is a person, then her/his apology is necessary and appropriate. Besides, the apology proferred was most definitely NOT from the website administrator but from Atty Kaw. And notably, no one acknowledged that plagiarism actually occurred, which it most definitely did. Apologies are useful, but more important is that people understand what was wrong about the situation. If people don’t “own up” then all the apologies in the world ring hollow.

Take a cue from the MVP case; his assistants plagiarized, MVP took the issue by the horns, apologized, took responsibility and resigned from Board of Ateneo. End of story. Does anyone believe MVP did the plagiarism himself? Of course not, but he acknowledged the error AND took full responsibility. It’s something that our private and public officials seem to avoid doing more and more.

By: mabuhay

mabuhay — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:02:18 +0000

dear marketman,

1) I am an avid reader of your blog.

2) Plagiarism is wrong.

3) Is an apology from the website administrator not enough? kelangan pa bang DOT secretary at attorney kumaasap sayo to please you?

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:44:54 +0000

‘What is deplorable about this incident is the lack of command responsibility. It is the inability to recognize when something was indeed wrong, own up to it, and correct it quickly. I know Secretary Jimenez and Atty Kaw are new to the department, and this happened on their predecessors watch. But they lead the department now.’

I could not agree with you more. Seriously, DOT officials, man up.