Chilean envoy to ‘photo grabber’: Redeem self

Señor Solis should “redeem” himself.

With this message that hopes to bring closure to the case of Mark Joseph Solis, the Chilean Embassy will give awards Thursday to a new set of winners in its “Smiles for the World” photography contest, which was marred last month by a plagiarism scandal involving the University of the Philippines student.

Chilean Ambassador Roberto Mayorga is handing the first prize to Medardo Marquez of Negros Occidental province, replacing Solis who admitted grabbing his entry from the Internet after the fraud was exposed by the real photographer.

Mayorga said he had accepted Solis’ apology and “required a commitment from Mr. Solis to redeem himself” by taking part in other activities under the Calidad Humana project (of the embassy), “which precisely aims to preserve and nurture the positive elements of the Filipino personality.”

“Mr. Solis promised to collaborate with the embassy and its partners in promoting the aims of Calidad Humana through its future activities,” the diplomat said.

In a statement, the embassy said Marquez would receive the prizes earlier handed to Solis during awarding ceremonies held Sept. 18 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The top prize includes round-trip tickets to Chile and Brazil, a cell phone and $1,000 in cash.

Second-place winner Hannah Reyes and third placer Arnold Jumpay will also receive their respective awards in today’s ceremonies at the ambassador’s residence at Forbes Park, Makati City.

Solis and his mother Amelita personally apologized to Mayorga Thursday last week for submitting a plagiarized entry to the photo contest, which was part of the embassy’s Calidad Humana (strength of human character) Project to promote the positive traits of Filipinos.

The UP graduate student, who even had a back story on how he supposedly came up with the shot, was exposed for plagiarism when the photo’s real owner, Gregory John Smith of Children at Risk Foundation, complained online about the picture taken from his account on Flickr, a photo sharing site.

It turned out that the photo, a close-up of a smiling boy at a seaweed farm, was taken in Brazil—not in Zamboanga, as Solis claimed.

Accounts later surfaced on the net that Solis had plagiarized other photos he entered in earlier photo competitions.

The 22-year-old student, who finished cum laude in political science and is currently taking a course for a master’s degree in public administration in UP, is under investigation by the school, which penalizes plagiarism with expulsion or nullification of the offender’s degree.