SC sets oral arguments on same-sex marriage bid

The Supreme Court would hear in open court next week arguments over a petition filed three years ago that sought to legally recognize same-sex marriages.

The tribunal had laid down the issues to be debated during oral arguments between same-sex marriage advocates and the Office of the Solicitor General representing the Civil Registrar General on Tuesday, June 19.

Lawyer Jesus Nicardo Falcis III, who had described himself to the court as an “open and self-identified homosexual,” filed the petition on May 18, 2015, a few days after Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

Family Code

Falcis had asked the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional provisions in the Family Code of the Philippines that defined marriages as only that between a man and a woman.

He asked the high court to order the Civil Registrar General to stop invoking those provisions when processing applications from homosexual couples for marriage licenses.

In an advisory issued earlier, the Supreme Court had listed several issues to be debated which included the court’s power of judicial review, whether police have the power to enforce the definition of marriage as between opposite genders, whether banning same-sex marriages violated the equal protection clause.

“The 1987 Philippine Constitution does not define marriage solely as between man and woman,” Falcis had said in his petition.