SC finds Mamba guilty of indirect contempt

THE Supreme Court (SC) found Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba and his counsel guilty of indirect contempt and ordered both to pay a fine of P30,000.

In a resolution issued on October 24, 2023 but was only made public Thursday night, February 22, the Supreme Court found Gov. Mamba and Macalintal Law Office guilty of indirect contempt for their failure to justify the filing of a petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction, and subsequent withdrawal of the same a week after.

Mamba filed the petition before the SC on August 22, 2023, to prevent the implementation of the contempt and detention orders issued by the House Committee on Public Accounts and the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms for his repeated failure to attend the inquiry on alleged illegal expenditures of the Cagayan provincial government during the 2022 campaign period.

However, a week later, after the Court had issued the TRO but before this was served to the parties involved, the Cagayan governor filed a manifestation and motion to withdraw his petition.

The SC immediately issued a resolution requiring Gov. Mamba and his counsel to show cause why they should not be disciplinarily dealt with or held in contempt.

In his response, Mamba claimed that due to circumstances, his counsel 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 Mamba and his counsel unsatisfactory.

It said Mamba's allegations in his petition and his subsequent compliance of the Court's show cause order were inconsistent with one another.

The Court noted that the Cagayan governor only filed his petition a few days after the orders issued by the House committees 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 the Court's immediate action on their prayer for the issuance of TRO/WPI but they could not show the same