SC to ex-Davao lawmaker: Reply to contempt notice

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) is asking former Davao del Sur first district congressman Marc Douglas Cagas IV to explain why he should not be held in contempt for allegedly saying that there was a “level of deceitfulness” in the tribunal’s making a decision.

Last Tuesday, the SC issued a four-page notice ordering Cagas to “show cause” why he should not be held in contempt of court.

Cagas reportedly earned the SC’s ire when he sent a letter to Court Administrator Midas Marquez.

Cagas, when he was still a Davao del Sur congressman, was the principle author of House Bill 4451 that eventually became Republic Act 10360 or the charter of the province of Davao Occidental.

In the last May midterm polls, Cagas ran for governor of Davao del Sur but lost to Claude Bautista.

Cagas reportedly filed a petition for prohibition asking the SC to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from conducting a plebiscite for the creation of the province of Davao Occidental, except in Davao City.

The SC released a resolution where it unanimously dismissed Cagas’ petition for lack of merit and ruled that the Comelec was within its jurisdiction and that it did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it resolved to hold the plebiscite for the creation of Davao Occidental on Oct. 28, simultaneous with the barangay elections.

The affected voters ratified the creation of Davao Occidental and the incumbent officials of Davao del Sur would administer the new province until a new set of elected executives of Davao Occidental assume their posts in 2016.

However, on Nov. 11, Marquez received a letter from Cagas citing the “level of deceitfulness of whoever wrote the decision. It can poison the minds of the law students.”

Cagas also sent 15 DVDs containing videos that allegedly showed the links between a certain Benjamin Bautista, Franklin Bautista, Claude Bautista and Lorna Bandigan of Davao del Sur with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles as well as Cagas’ campaign against the creation of Davao Occidental.

Marquez, in turn, forwarded copies of Cagas’ letter and DVDs to the offices of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and the 14 other SC magistrates.

In response, the SC said that while legitimate criticisms would show flaws on the tribunal’s decisions and this could lead to an efficient judiciary, Cagas’ letter and videos, however, “tend, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.”

Cagas was incidentally one of seven former lawmakers who were named respondents by the National Bureau of Investigation in the second batch of pork barrel scam cases filed before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday.