Constitution has to be amended to allow same-sex marriage – Calida

Solicitor General Jose Calida (File photo by JOAN BONDOC / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Unless the Constitution is amended, the country is stuck with the rule that marriage is between a man and a woman alone, Solicitor General Jose Calida said Tuesday.

During oral arguments at the Supreme Court, Calida maintained that the petition on same-sex marriage filed by lawyer Jesus Nicardo Falcis III as as well as intervenor LGBTs (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Church should be dismissed for lack of merit.

“I think we should lobby the framers [of the Constitution] now to include same-sex marriage,” Calida said. “But until that is done, we are stuck in the definition that marriage is a union between a man and woman.”

He said the people pushing for the same-sex union should either go to the legislators and urge them to pass a law on same-sex union or go the members of the Constitutional Commission (ConCom) to include same sex union in framing a new constitution.

He said that, while same sex couples could “live happily ever after,” they could compel the government to recognize their union as marriage – unless the Constitution could be amended to allow it.

“Like clothes, there are certain pairs that we have to mend,” Calida said.

While the Constitution does not explicitly stated that marriage should be between a man and a woman only, as Associate Justice Marvic Leonen stated, Calida said the framers of the Constitution intended that marriage should be between the opposite sexes only.

This is so, Calida said, because the purpose of marriage is procreation.

But Associate Justice Samuel Martires said that if the purpose of marriage is procreation, how come older couples – for example, a 75-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman – are still allowed to get married? Or why is it that a 65-year-old woman who can no longer procreate is still allowed to marry a younger man?

“So, the framers of the Constitution, the ones who used this word for purposes of procreation did not understand the meaning of procreation and its effects on those old couples,” Martires said.

“Since when has the state been in the business of marriage of opposite sex? Why do we have to discriminate against same-sex marriage? Are not gay couple, lesbians capable of loving like the heterosexuals,” Martires asked.

And Calida said: “They are capable of loving, but they are not capable of procreating.” /atm