Plagiarism is a major no-no across all industries and artistic forms — but in the Philippines, many writers, artists, and even politicians seem confused about what it means to be on the right side of the issue.

In a viral Facebook post that originally appeared on Saturday, a local netizen showed side-by-side comparisons of two sets of illustrated works in order to make the argument that a Filipino artist named Shellette Gipa had plagiarized the artwork of Korean illustrator Hong SoonSang, prompting Gipa to publicly admit and apologize for copying the other artist’s work without any kind of attribution.

The netizen, Paolo Magtira, wrote the post in relation to Gipa’s works that appeared in the children’s book The Little Hero, published by Kahel Press. Prior to this recent post, Magtira stated that he had already accused Gipa of plagiarism, but deleted his initial post after the artist wrote him with the promise that she would issue a public apology.

Soon after issuing an apology, however, Magtira said that Gipa attempted to deactivate her Facebook account and that she also allegedly threatened to sue him. Magtira’s post has been taken down, but Coconuts Manila has kept a few screenshots.

View photos Photo: Paolo Magtira/FB More

According to Magtira’s post, he “asserted to them (Gipa) that they keep their account up. They responded by threatening me with legal action if I try to talk about this issue again. If you’re seeing this post this means that the illustrator chose to erase their account or deleted the apology and tried to do the same to their accountability.”

Magtira attached several examples of Gipa’s illustrations that copied heavily from Hong’s work. Below are some examples of Hong’s art.

View photos Photo: Paolo Magtira/FB More

Here are Gipa’s illustrations.

View photos Photo: Paolo Magtira/FB More

Magtira also posted an announcement for a book signing event at the Manila International Book Fair, which clearly identified Gipa as The Little Hero‘s illustrator.

View photos Photo: Paolo Magtira/FB More

In a subsequent edit to his post, Magtira wrote that contrary to his earlier claim, Gipa had, in fact, made a public apology — but she also blocked him from seeing her Facebook account, which explains why Magtira could no longer see her apology.

A quick look at Gipa’s account now shows that she did indeed apologize on Saturday, a day after the initial accusation from Magtira, for copying Hong’s illustrations.

“I don’t know what to say,” she wrote in English and Filipino. “But I would like to say sorry to those whom I’ve hurt and fooled. I’m sorry to everyone whom I have disappointed. I’m sorry if I created art that didn’t come from my own efforts. I’m sorry that I used someone else’s art to save myself. I know it’s wrong. It’s really wrong.”

Story continues