Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano C. Del Castillo has decided to inhibit himself from the case involving Filipino “comfort women” even as various legal luminaries called for sobriety on the alleged plagiarism issue while awaiting the result of the investigation of the High Court’s Ethics Committee.

Justice Del Castillo was the one who penned the decision in Vinuya v. Romulo in which the SC turned down the petition of at least 70 comfort women deserted by Japanese soldiers during World War II to compel the Philippine government to seek an explicit apology and repatriations from Japan.

The counsels for the comfort women have accused Del Castillo of plagiarizing the works of American legal experts in the writing of the decision, which was promulgated on April 28, 2010. Del Castillo denied the accusation and insisted that “there was every intention to attribute all sources” in the controversial ruling.

According to a press statement issued by the High Court’s Public Information Office headed by Court Administrator and SC Spokesman Jose Midas Marquez, Del Castillo has already informed Chief Justice Renato C. Corona about his decision to inhibit from the Vinuya case.

“He (Del Castillo) is inhibiting from further participation in the Vinuya case in light of the allegations that have been thrown against him and to disabuse the minds of parties as well as the public of any basis or partiality on his part,” the statement reads.

This developed as constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas led other luminaries in calling for sobriety on the plagiarism issue.

Bernas, in his Facebook account, said: “There is a call from quarters for Justice Mariano Del Castillo to resign because of a charge of plagiarism. But the case is with the Supreme Court now. Let us wait for the verdict of the Court. Like everyone else, Justice Del Castillo is entitled to due process.”