Ad Lib -- By Greg B. Macabenta
Comparing one Manny and the otherManny Pangilinan delivered a graduation speech
at the Ateneo. It was subsequently revealed that substantial portions of the
speech had been lifted from speeches of President Barack Obama, JK Rowling of
Harry Potter fame, and Oprah Winfrey. It was a case of plagiarism.
Learning of the embarrassing situation which he had unwittingly fallen into,
Pangilinan did the honorable thing. He took full responsibility for the
incident, apologized, and announced his resignation as chairman of the
university’s board of trustees.
What were his other options?
He could have blamed his speech writers (we understand that two young people
had ghosted for Pangilinan, rather than his usual writers) and he could have
exploded with righteous indignation over the unwarranted stain on his honor and
dignity.
Or he could have dismissed the accusation of plagiarism as too much ado over a
minor matter, considering how many important issues the detractors could have
turned their attention to, like the coming presidential elections, the world
economic crunch, and the disappointing Clottey-Pacquiao fight.
Or he could have accused unnamed taipans and business rivals and dared them to
provide proof that he had "willfully" plagiarized the speeches, considering
that nothing in this world is original anyway -- and it could have simply been
an uncanny coincidence.
And, on top of that, he could have directed his PR managers to make sure that
the story did not get too much exposure in the media. In other words, apply
Supress Relations.
But, no, Manny Pangilinan took the blow on the chin, apologized profusely,
expressed his embarrassment as plainly as he could -- ""I am afraid the damage
has been done -- wala talaga akong mukhang ihaharap pagkatapos (I have lost
face)" -- and left it to the public to make their judgment.
This is one Manny that I have the greatest admiration for. It takes a great
deal of manliness to do what he did.
Lest the chairman of PDLT and Smart think I’m trying to gain a free mobile
phone and a lifetime of free minutes from him, I would like to relate an
incident that involved one of his top executives -- Greg Atienza, former
president of PilTel and of the marketing arm of Smart. This will explain why I
have the highest regard for people like Manny Pangilinan who have the cojones
to acknowledge where the buck stops.
Greg Atienza was my subordinate, my account supervisor, for the Milo account,
part of the Nestlé business that was the bread, butter, caviar, rice, and fish
of Advertising & Marketing Associates. This was before I became the agency’s
CEO.
Greg was assigned to supervise a project, had arrived late at the project venue
due to transportation problems, and was told off in no uncertain terms by the
Milo product manager. When I arrived at the venue and learned about it, I lost
my temper and gave the client hell, telling him that he had no right to treat
my people like a peon Now, only an idiot would do that to an executive of a
premier client like Nestlé, which was what I was when I lost my cool. At any
rate, the client was more even tempered than I was. He suggested that we get
the job done anyway, and fight later. We agreed to finish the job.
As soon as we were done, I noticed that Greg had disappeared. As it turned out,
he had made a beeline for AMA and the office of Tony de Joya, chairman and
president, and had reported the incident to the boss.
"And why are you telling me this?" Tony demanded to know.
"Because, sir, Mr. Macabenta will tell you that it was his fault," said Greg.
"The truth is, it was my fault."
At that point, I arrived at AMA and headed straight for Tony’s office. "I got
into a fight with client," I immediately told Tony. "It was my fault."
Mercifully, Tony did not fire Greg and me, and we did not lose the Nestlé
account. And Frits Van Dijk, the product manager involved, and I became close
friends. Frits went on to become president of several Nestlé markets and
eventually, executive vice president for Zone 3, which encompasses much of the
Nestlé world.
Having expressed my admiration for Manny Pangilinan, because I can identify
with what he has been through, let me turn to another Manny -- Manny Villar,
candidate for president of the Philippines.
Apparently the creative geniuses in his campaign got carried away and spun tall
tales about his poverty-stricken childhood and the tragic death of his brother
due to lack of money for medicine. Enterprising media people did some digging
into Villar’s real background and found his tales rather tall. The media folks
took pains to provide documents to back up their incredulity.
How did Manny Villar respond?
He accused the media folks, including respected columnists like Winnie Monsod
and Billie Esposo, of being hired guns of his political opponents. And, to this
day, in spite of proof to the contrary, Villar continues to insist that every
thread of his yarn is genuine.
Villar has also been accused of using his positions in government -- as speaker
of the House and Senate president, no less -- to earn billions for his real
estate companies. A fellow senator, Joker Arroyo, accused him of violating the
public trust and provided evidence (never mind that the Joker is now one of
Villar’s chief defenders). Several of Villar’s colleagues in the Senate have
signed a report prepared by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, lending
credence to the accusations. Winnie Monsod has prepared a point-by-point
analysis of the C-5 scandal, supported by documents.
How has Villar responded? He has issued a blanket denial of all the accusations
but has refused to face his detractors in the Senate -- preferring instead to
talk to friendly media.
Given all of these, one can conclude that Manny Villar is the complete opposite
of Manny Pangilinan.
And talking of plagiarism. You should see the latest TV commercial of Villar.
It is a complete copy of a creative technique used for another presidential
campaign, that of Ricardo Lopez Murphy of Argentina.
Of course, Villar did not write the storyboard -- the way Manny Pangilinan did
not write his speech -- and Villar may not even be aware that his copywriters
are plagiarists.
But now that he knows, will he follow the example of Manny Pangilinan and take
full responsibility for this flagrant case of creative and intellectual
thievery?
Or will Villar take the option that most politicians in our hapless country
resort to? Wash his hands? Blame his political detractors? And claim
persecution?
That remains to be seen.
By the way, in spite of the impressive creative device that Ricardo Lopez
Murphy used in his TV commercial, he lost in the 2007 presidential elections.
He got a measly 1% of the votes.
Maybe Manny Villar’s creative geniuses are secretly working for somebody else.
gregmacabenta@ hotmail.com
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