MANILA, Philippines - An official of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) on Monday denied that those who wrote businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan's (MVP) plagiarized speeches came from the school.

The official, who declined to be named, told ABS-CBN News that Pangilinan's speeches for its sesquicentennial graduates were not prepared by students from ADMU.

On Monday, an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer said that the "two new speech writers" were "Ateneo students" who "wanted to impress the tycoon," citing a PR practitioner who works for Pangilinan on certain projects. The names of the alleged speech writers were not disclosed.

The official told ABS-CBN News that the school has looked into this allegation, and it has been able to determine that the writers were not from ADMU.

ABS-CBN News also learned from another source that Pangilinan's usual speech writers were not the ones who wrote the speeches. This was also reported by the Inquirer.

Ateneans back MVP

Meanwhile, support from the Ateneo alumni community continued to pour in for Pangilinan.

Jai Reyes, former team captain of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, reminded the public of Pangilinan's achievements and contributions to their school.

"Sana we won't overlook his achievements in life," Reyes said.

For his part, Ateneo Alumni Association President Ramon Roco said, "It's responsible of him to own up to it and apologize. We are drafting a letter of support [for him]."

Pangilinan is the chairman of telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its mobile phone arm, Smart Communications Inc. His company recently bought Associated Broadcasting Corp., owner of television network TV-5.

He has funded some of ADMU's new school buildings, including the Manuel V. Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership, the home of the university's student organizations.

MVP takes responsibility

A speech that Pangilinan delivered to graduates from ADMU's School of Social Sciences and School of Humanities caught the ire of several Filipinos as parts of it were copied from speeches of well-known figures such as Oprah Winfrey and J. K. Rowling. ((Read the speeches here: Manuel V. Pangilinan Commencement Address)

In a letter addressed to ADMU President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., Pangilinan has already apologized to students of ADMU for giving a speech that "had been borrowed from certain other graduation speeches."

"I had taken a look at the side-by-side comparison at Facebook, and must admit to this mistake. For this, I express my sincerest apology to you, the University and to the 2010 graduating class," he said. "I have had some help in the drafting of my remarks, but I take full and sole responsibility for them."

Pangilinan, whose term as chairman of the ADMU board of trustees ends in 2011, also offered to "retire from his official duties" to make up for the incident. Nebres, however, said that such is not the "principled thing" to do.

"[I know this] happened without your full awareness, though you take full and sole responsibility," Nebres said in a response letter, asking Pangilinan to meet up first with the ADMU board to discuss matters.

"In reading again through your speeches, we also see that indeed the main part of your speeches were your story and your thoughts. We thank you for taking so much time to craft them and to share them with us and with your graduates. We are deeply touched by this sharing of yourself," he added. -- Report from Jing Castañeda, ABS-CBN News