Same-sex couples can live happily together but not marry — Calida

The government’s lead counsel on Tuesday said same sex couples can live happily together but they cannot marry because it is not allowed under the Philippine Constitution.

“They can live together happily ever after but they cannot insist that they should be allowed to marry under the present law and our constitution,” Solicitor General Jose Calida said during the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on the petition to allow same sex marriage.

The SC is hearing in open court the arguments over a petition filed three years ago seeking to recognize same-sex marriages.

Calida said even history shows that marriage is between a man and a woman.

However, lawyer Jesus Nicardo Falcis III, the petitioner, said during an earlier hearing of oral arguments, “Nothing in Article XV or other provisions of the Constitution limits the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.”

READ: ‘1987 Constitution does not limit marriage to opposite-sex couples’ — Falcis

/vvp