SC upholds prison sentence vs. Carlos Celdran over Damaso stunt

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the conviction of cultural activist Carlos Celdran for "offending religious feelings" over a protest he staged at the Manila Cathedral in 2010.

Celdran confirmed the development on Monday, over four months after the SC's First Division resolved to deny his petition challenging a Court of Appeals (CA) decision that affirmed a damning lower court verdict.

"It's come to pass. My appeal in the Supreme Court has been denied and my sentence is upheld. Three months minimum to a year and a month and a day maximum," he said on his Facebook page, referencing a five-page resolution dated March 21.

In 2012, Celdran was found guilty of "offending religious feelings" under Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code by the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court for disrupting service at the Manila Cathedral in September 2010 to protest the Catholic Church's opposition to the then-Reproductive Health Bill.

Celdran, then dressed as national hero Jose Rizal, had held up a placard with the word “Damaso” before the Papal Nuncio, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, several bishops and other religious, a reference to the villainous friar from Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere."

Acting on Celdran's appeal, the Manila Regional Trial Court would later uphold the decision, as would the CA, prompting the activist to seek redress before the High Court.

But the SC said it agreed with the appeals court's finding that "the acts of petitioner (Celdran) were meant to mock, insult and ridicule those clergy whose beliefs and principles were diametrically opposed to his own."

"The question of whether petitioner offended the religious feelings of those who were present during the celebration of the MTBC (May They Be One Campaign) is a question of fact which will not be entertained in the present petition," the SC division said.

This is in recognition of an SC doctrine that only allows the raising of questions of law, not fact, in petitions for review on certiorari in view of the "highest degree of respect" accorded to the findings of fact made by the trial courts "especially when the MeTC, the RTC and the CA have similar findings."

"Therefore, for failure of the petitioner to sufficiently show any reversible error in the uniform findings of the MeTC, the RTC and the CA, we resolve to deny the instant petition," the SC said. —NB/RSJ, GMA News