‘WRONG PROCESS’ | SC dismisses a petition to allow same-sex marriage in the country

September 3, 2019 , 09:27 PM

(SEPTEMBER 3, 2019) – The Supreme Court (SC), in a decision issued on Tuesday, has dismissed a petition to allow same sex marriages in the country, junking not the concept but the process and standing of the petitioners.

Spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka said the petition was thumbed down not on any argument but on the tribunal’s position that the petitioners were wrong to immediately take their case to the high court.

“To forget the bare rudiments of court procedure and decorum or worse, to purport to know them, but really, only to exploit them by way of propaganda…[T]o jump headlong into the taxing endeavor of constitutional litigation is a contemptuous betrayal of the high standards of the legal profession,” the decision read.

Lawyers Jesus Falcis, Darwin Angeles, Keisha Trina Guangko, and Christopher Maranan were also held liable for indirect contempt.

SC also warned against “premature” petitions, saying actions done in the name of public interest “should be the result of collective decision coming from well-thought-out strategies of the movement in whose name we bring a case before this Court.”

“Otherwise, premature petitions filed by those who seek to see their names in our jurisprudential records may only do more harm than good,” the high court said.

SC dismissed the October 2015 petition of Falcis due to his “lack of standing, violating the principle of hierarchy of courts, and failing to raise an actual, justiciable controversy.”

Falcis, an openly gay lawyer, argued that the Family Code, in limiting marriage between man and woman, is “unconstitutional” because it deprives his right to liberty.

SC also stressed that the matter should have been brought to Congress instead.

“Same-sex couples may morally claim that they have a right against discrimination for their choice of relationships, and that official recognition of their partnerships may, for now, be a matter that should be addressed to Congress,” said Associate Justic Marvic Leonen, the ponente.

In any case, the high court said the 1987 Constitution, from its “plain text,” “does not define, or restrict, marriage on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.” (Nikko Garcia/JMF)

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