Same-sex marriage advocate catches SC’s ire anew

A month after he was admonished by the court for his attire, the lawyer pushing for same-sex marriage in the Philippines is now subject of a show cause order from the Supreme Court.

Atty. Nicardo M. Falcis III and his co-counsels Attys. Darwin P. Angeles, Keisha Trina M. Guangko, and Christopher Ryan R. Maranan were ordered to explain why they should not be cited for indirect contempt for failure to submit their memorandum on the case on time.

The high court gave Falcis and his co-counsels 10 non-extendible days “to show cause because disobedience of a lawful order of the court may be punished as indirect contempt.”

The high court issued the order Tuesday after Falcis and his co-counsels failed to submit their memorandum on time.

The memorandum will contain the arguments they raised during the June 26 oral debate on the issue of same-sex marriage before the court.

The parties to the case are also required to include in the memorandum their more extensive response to questions of the justice.

After the oral argument, the parties were given 30 days to submit their respective memorandum.

In their motion for extension, Falcis and his co-counsels asked for seven more days. They said they need more time to finalize the memorandum blaming the monsoon rains that caused multiple work suspensions.

They also mentioned the “scope, breadth and complexity of the issues involved in this case, as well as other urgent professional work.”

However, the high court said the reasons cited are “unmeritorious” because all the other parties to the case complied on time “thus showing that even considering the complexity of issues to be resolved in this case, the reasonable filing of the Memoranda was possible.”

The high court added that only the Office of the Solicitor General was given a copy of the motion for extension and not the other parties which were in violation of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.

“The Court already warned petitioner Falcis to be circumspect of the duties attendant to his being a lawyer, and that any further contemptuous acts shall be dealt with more severely,” the high court said.

Last month, the high court admonished Falcis when he appeared improperly dressed and failed to observe the proper decorum during a preliminary conference last June.   /vvp

RELATED STORY: Lawyer advocating for same-sex marriage admonished for improper attire, decorum in court