I browsed through decisions of the Supreme Court, majority of them with Baguio boy Justice Marvic Leonen as ponente, that make good reading for Valentine’s Day.
“(T)he heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know,” (Chua-Qua v. Clave, G.R. No. L-49549, 30 August 1990” Further, “(w)e cannot castigate a man for seeking out the partner of his dreams,” (Figueroa v. Barranco, Jr., G.R. No. 97369, 31 July 1997) because “(l)ove is useless unless it is shared with another,” (Chi Ming Tsoi v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 119190, 16 January 1997).
“(P)eople fall out of love. There is always a possibility that human love is not forever,” (J. Leonen, Dissenting Opinion in Matudan v. Republic, G.R. No. 203284, 14 November 2016).
“The question is not so much as who was aimed at (but) as to who was hit,” [Borjal v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 126466, 14 January 1999 citing Pound in Corrigan v. Bobbs-Merrill Co., 228 N.Y. 58 (1920)].
“Statistics never lie, but lovers often do, quipped a sage,” (Antonio v. Reyes, G.R. No. 155800, 10 March 2006).
“Individuals who are in love had the power to let love grow or let love die – it is a choice one had to face when love is not the love he/she expected,” (Padilla-Rumbaua v. Rumbaua, G.R. No. 166738, 14 August 2009).
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder? And although absence can indeed make the heart grow fonder, the opposite can just as well be true: out of sight, out of mind,” (G.R. No. 173294, February 27, 2008, Corona, J.: Rene Enrique Bier vs. Ma. Lourdes A. Bier and the Republic of the Philippines).
“Parting is already sorrow. It need not be more than what it already is,” (Leonen, J., Rosanna L. Tan-Andal vs Mario Victor M. Andal En Banc G.R. No. 196359, May 11, 2021).
“Marriage is not compulsory when in love; neither does it create love. Nonetheless, it remains an institution designed to provide legal and public recognition that may well deserved not only for couple, but also for their families existing or yet to come,” (Leonen, J., Rosanna L. Tan-Andal vs Mario Victor M. Andal En Banc G.R. No. 196359, May 11, 2021).
“Being in love can be carried on the wings of poetry, announced publicly through each other’s gazes. It is made real and felt with every act of unconditional care that the lover provides. Love can be beyond labels,” (Leonen, J., Rosanna L. Tan-Andal vs Mario Victor M. Andal En Banc G.R. No. 196359, May 11, 2021).
“Love is founded on a promise: to seek beyond ourselves in order to enable and ennoble the other to continue to become the best version of ourselves,” (Leonen, J., Rosanna L. Tan-Andal vs Mario Victor M. Andal; En Banc G.R. No. 196359, May 11, 2021).
In the end, the ultimate quote comes not from a lawyer but from Shakespeare — “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Sigh.
