SC fines Cagayan Gov. Mamba, counsel for indirect contempt

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has fined Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba and his counsel Macalintal Law Office due to indirect contempt.

In 2023, Mamba was invited to attend a House hearing investigating the alleged distribution of cash in Cagayan during the 2022 elections, but Mamba declined to attend, citing that the representative who made the House resolutions of the hearings was the spouse of a defeated election candidate.

READ: Cagayan Gov. Mamba ordered detained for failing to attend House hearing

As a result, the House issued a show cause order against Mamba to make him explain why he should not be cited in contempt. Later on, police officials went to Mamba’s residence to serve the contempt order and detention order.

Mamba said that he would go to Manila to face the House, but some armed men remained outside his residence, prompting him to file a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO), saying that his right to liberty had been restrained. The SC then issued the TRO.

Some days after, Mamba filed a motion to withdraw the petition, which resulted in the SC also issuing a resolution requiring Mamba and his counsel to show cause on why they should not be held in contempt.

However, the SC found the explanation of Mamba and his counsel to be unsatisfactory, as his allegations in his petitions and his later explanation were inconsistent with each other, which led it to cite the two in indirect contempt.

“After a punctilious review of the records, numerous news reports that the Court takes judicial notice of, and Gov. Mamba and Macalintal Law Office’s assertions in their Compliance…the Court is convinced that Gov. Mamba and Macalintal Law Office should be cited in indirect contempt under Rule 71, Section 3(c) and (d) of the Rules of Court,” the SC said.

The high court also penalized Mamba and the Macalintal Law Office with a P30,000 fine and warned them that similar or repeated acts would be dealt with more severely.

READ: Cagayan Gov. Mamba released from House detention after SC’s TRO