Manila, Philippines - Senator Tito Sotto III who's been accused of plagiarizing the blog content of Sarah Pope and Robert F. Kennedy's speech is again accused of plagiarism by another American blogger,Janice Formichella, in his campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill in the Philippines.

Janice Formichella wrote the following at msmagazine.com after being alerted by netizens and the media regarding the alleged plagiarism case.

I am a white American blogger and small business owner in New York City. So you can imagine my surprise when a two-year-old blog post of mine suddenly made it to the floor of the Philippine Senate last month. According to the Filipino reporters who alerted me to this, Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III lifted entire passages from a post I wrote for Feminists For Choice and twisted them into an anti-choice argument against an important reproductive rights bill in the country.

Janice Formichella's blog post, entitled “Gandhi’s birth control of choice,” discusses the relationship between Margaret Sanger and Gandhi, and his views on birth control. Sanger had, at one point, made a considerable effort to gain Gandhi as an ally in her mission to spread the use of oral contraceptives worldwide. But he refused the partnership, encouraging his followers to practice self-restraint instead of using contraceptives.

So how did Tito Sotto deliver his speech on August 15, 2012 using the blog content of Janice?

Here's Tito Sotto's speech on the date mentioned.

Kasi po, the two activists met in December of 1936-iyan po ang litrato nila-when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control, population and the plight of women in India. Kinakabahan sila noon na palaki nang palaki at padami nang padami ang population ng India.

Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis-ganoon noong araw sa India-Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that:

"Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil."

Formichella's "Gandhi’s birth control of choice" on February 5, 2010.

The two activists met in 1936 when Sanger traveled to India to speak with Gandhi about birth control. By that time Sanger was advocating internationally for artificial contraceptives and sought to make Gandhi an ally.

Despite the fact that the movement was gaining popularity in a society with a serious poverty crisis, Gandhi was an outspoken critic of artificial birth control. His general attitude was that:

“Persons who use contraceptives will never learn the value of self-restraint. They will not need it. Self-indulgence with contraceptives may prevent the coming of children but will sap the vitality of both men and women, perhaps more of men than of women. It is unmanly to refuse battle with the devil.” Formichella said in her latest blog that she could hardly understand how her words were used by Tito Sotto III to argue against reproductive rights given the content of her post and her pro-contraception position.

Moreover, the US blogger said:

"I would love nothing more than to see this bill passed, and am angry that my work would be used to stall its advancement. It is my hope that Sotto will apologize to each of the bloggers he has plagiarized, and that this story might actually serve to increase the exposure of the Reproductive Health Bill." Meanwhile, in a phone interview with GMA News Online on Thursday evening, Sotto said he got the information about Sanger and Gandhi from a book, not the blogger.

"Kinuha namin yung information sa libro kaya imposibleng sinasabi niya. I have the book with pics," he said.

Sotto said he did not copy passages from the book but just sourced information from it.

The senator could not immediately give the title of the book, which he said is in his office, but said that he can show it to anyone who is interested.

Source: ABS-CBN news, msmagazine.com, GMA news

Also read, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile's plan of submitting a Philippine Blogging Law