MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered lawyer Jesus Falcis III to explain why he should not be cited in indirect contempt for failure to submit the memorandum on his petition urging the grant of same-sex marriage in the country.
According to the media statement read by SC spokesperson Theodore Te, the SC issued a show cause order against Falcis and his co-counsels to explain within 10 days why they should not be cited in indirect contempt for failing to meet the deadline set by the SC last June 26.
Following the adjournment of the oral arguments on Falcis’ petition for same-sex marriage, all parties—including the respondents—were ordered to submit their memorandum until July 26.
The SC noted that Falcis and his co-counsels sought for additional time to file their memorandum, but the SC junked the plea after it found the reasons cited by Falcis as unmeritorious.
Falcis and his co-counsels, in their motion for extension, cited “incessant monsoon rains causing multiple suspensions of work; the scope, breadth and complexity of the issues involved in this case, as well as other urgent professional work.”
But the SC said that all other parties, with the exclusion of intervenor-oppositor Fernando Perito, fully complied with the imposed deadline.
Their motion was also just served only to the Office of the Solicitor General and to no other parties. This is in violation of the requirement of proof of service motions in Rule 15, Section 7 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, Te added.
“Finally, the Court had already warned petitioner Falcis to be circumspect of the duties attendant to his being a lawyer, and that any further contemptuous acts shall be dealt with more severely,” the SC spokesman also said.
The SC has earlier admonished Falcis for wearing improper attire during the preliminary conference of his petition for same-sex marriage.
The SC-issued resolution dated July 3 described Falcis wearing “a casual jacket, cropped jeans and loafers without socks.”
The high court found Falcis guilty of direct contempt despite his explanation that he initially hired a lawyer but a miscommunication occurred where he was forced to appear and it was too late for him to change attire.
Falcis filed the petition seeking for marriage equality in May 2015. He filed his case before the SC, arguing that while he has not applied for a marriage license, as a citizen of the Philippines, he should be given the option to marry in the country he lives in.