SC Fines Cagayan Governor and Macalintal Law Office for Indirect Contempt
The Supreme Court has found Cagayan Governor Manuel N. Mamba (Gov. Mamba) and his counsel Macalintal Law Office guilty of indirect contempt and fined both PHP 30,000 in connection with their failure to justify the filing of a petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction (WPI), and subsequent withdrawal of the same a week after.
Gov. Mamba was among those invited to attend the hearings of the House Committee on Public Accounts and the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms of the 19th Congress (House Committees) following the issuances of two House Resolutions (HR): (1) HR 145: Resolution Urging the Commission on Audit to Conduct a Special Audit and/or Fraud Audit Investigation on the Illegal Expenditures of the Provincial Government of Cagayan During the Campaign Period from March 25, 2022 to May 8, 2022 and (2) HR 146: Resolution Urging the Appropriate Committee of the House of Representatives to Conduct an Inquiry, in Aid of Legislation, on the Inaction of the Commission on Elections into the Open and Massive Distribution of Cash and other Forms of Assistance to Registered Voters and Barangays in the Province of Cagayan During the Prohibited Period from March 25, 2022 to May 9, 2022.
Gov. Mamba declined to attend the hearings on the ground that the Representative-proponent of the HRs is the spouse of a defeated candidate in the 2022 Gubernatorial Elections in Cagayan. He further reasoned that the subject matter of the HRs, i.e., the alleged vote buying using public funds that purportedly occurred in Cagayan during the 2022 Gubernatorial Elections, is also raised as an issue before the Supreme Court in a separate case, G.R. No. 265847. Thus, he could not comment on matters sub judice. Gov. Mamba further declined subsequent invitations to attend hearings citing other reasons.
On August 7, 2023, the House Committees issued two Show Cause Orders requiring Gov. Mamba to explain why he should not be cited in contempt.
On August 19, 2023, 50 armed police personnel and five police officials led by Cagayan Police Provincial Director Police Colonel Julio S. Gorospe, Jr. (PCOL Gorospe) served the Contempt Order and Detention Order on Gov. Mamba in the latter’s residence in Naruangan, Tuao, Cagayan.
When Gov. Mamba said he would travel to Manila to face the Committee, PCOL Gorospe left the governor’s residence but numerous armed men remained stationed outside, which prompted Gov. Mamba to file on August 22, 2023 the present petition claiming that his liberty had been restrained on account of the “illegally-issued and unconstitutional” Orders.
The Court received the petition at 3:14 p.m. on August 22, 2023, which was then raffled to the Member-in-Charge the next day. On August 24, 2023, the Court En Banc issued the TRO preventing the implementation of the assailed Orders. The Court also furnished a copy of the TRO to PCOL Gorospe and required the House Committees and Representatives Joseph Stephen S. Paduano and Jonathan Keith T. Flores, Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the House Committees, respectively, as well as House of Representatives (HOR) Sergeant-at-Arms PMGEN Napoleon C. Taas (PMGEN Taas) (collectively, respondents) to comment on the petition within a non-extendible period of five days from receipt of notice.
However, after the Court had issued the TRO but before proper service to the parties, online news outlets reported that Gov. Mamba had voluntarily surrendered to respondents.
On August 29, 2023, Gov. Mamba filed before the Court a manifestation and motion to withdraw his petition, stating that: (a) even before the Court En Banc could act on the petition and prayer for TRO, the assailed Orders had already been implemented and (b) respondents then approved the release of Gov. Mamba from detention upon showing of proof that he had filed a motion to withdraw his petition.
On the same date, the Court issued a Resolution requiring Gov. Mamba and his counsel, Macalintal Law Office, to show cause why they should not be disciplinarily dealt with or held in contempt.
In their Compliance dated September 27, 2023. Gov. Mamba claimed that contrary to news reports, he never voluntarily surrendered to respondents; rather, his liberty had already been restrained by the Cagayan Police as early as August 19, 2023. Gov. Mamba said that his custody was merely turned over to PMGEN Taas on August 24, 2023.
Gov. Mamba further claimed that upon his arrival at the HOR, the lawyers of Macalintal Law Office were busy coordinating with the respective secretariats of respondents so that Gov. Mamba would not be detained over the long weekend. Given the circumstance, the law office opted not to make any manifestation to the Court for lack of material time and perceiving that events were still unfolding.
The Court, however, found the explanation of Gov. Mamba and Macalintal Law Office in their Compliance unsatisfactory.
Gov. Mamba’s allegations in his petition and his subsequent Compliance were inconsistent with one another, said the Court, noting that Gov. Mamba only filed his petition a few days after the assailed Orders were served on him at his residence. Thus, “[i]t can be reasonably deduced that Gov. Mamba’s change of tune in the Compliance is but a flimsy attempt to absolve himself from a contempt citation,” said the Court.
The Court further lamented the fact that Gov. Mamba and his counsel sought for the Court’s immediate action on their prayer for the issuance of TRO/WPI but they themselves could not show the same modicum of urgency by immediately manifesting to the Court any supervening event that would materially affect the proceedings before the Court. Reiterating its 2020 ruling in Bank of Commerce v. Borromeo, the Court reminded that “there should be a greater awareness on the part of litigants that the time of the judiciary, much more so of the Court, is too valuable to be wasted or frittered away.”
Under Rule 71, Section 3(c) of the Rules of Court, punishable as indirect contempt are any abuse or unlawful interference with the processes or proceedings of a court not constituting direct contempt. Likewise, Section 3(d) of the same Rules considers as indirect contempt any improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice.
“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 Court concluded.
In addition to the penalty of fine, the Court gave both Gov. Mamba and Macalintal Law Office a stern warning that a repetition of the same or similar act in the future shall be dealt with more severely.
The Court also noted that Gov. Mamba’s Petition is now deemed withdrawn, closed, and terminated. Consequently, the previously issued TRO is now dissolved.
As to the letter received by the Court from Cagayan 3rd District Rep. Joseph L. Lara reporting that in multiple instances, Gov. Mamba uttered “unfounded accusations or allegations or words tending to besmirch the [J]udiciary [that] were done willfully and for an illegitimate or improper purpose,” the Court ordered that this be docketed as a separate administrative matter. It also directed Gov. Mamba to show cause within a non-extendible period of 30 days from notice why he should not be held in indirect contempt of court for uttering purportedly contemptuous statements against the Judiciary in the April 29, 2022, May 4, 2022, and May 5, 2022 episodes of the radio program Caygandang Cagayan and during the August 7, 2023 flag ceremony conducted on the Capitol Grounds of the Provincial Government of Cagayan.
The Court also directed Judge Marivic A. Cacatian-Beltran, Presiding Judge of Branch 3, Regional Trial Court of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, and Judge Jezarene C. Aquino, Presiding Judge of Branch 5, Regional Trial Court of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan to submit their respective comments on the same matter within 30 days from notice. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
FULL TEXT of the Resolution in G.R. No. 268540 dated October 24, 2023 (Manuel M. Mamba v. House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, et al.) at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/268540-20231024-manuel-n-mamba-vs-house-of-representatives-committee-on-public-accounts/