A central Luzon congressman learned the hard way that the Sandiganbayan doesn’t do casual Tuesdays.

The solon, already juggling nine counts of graft over an alleged conflict of interest involving a construction firm that scored government contracts, showed up to his arraignment at the anti-graft court’s Second Division dressed like he was headed to a barangay basketball game, jeans, t-shirt, the works.

The presiding justice was not amused. She told him, in so many words, that his outfit read as contempt for the court itself. He apologized on the spot, claiming he genuinely didn’t know there was a dress code for the accused.

Nosy Tarsee finds that a curious excuse for a three-term legislator who spends his days in a body with its own strict decorum.

Either the congressman skipped that memo entirely, or he figured the rules that bind everyone else in the Halls of Justice don’t quite reach him. Given the case he’s facing, betting on the latter would not be advisable.

He wasn’t in cuffs, mind you, P90,000 bail per count, spread across the various divisions his cases got raffled to, kept him a free man for the day.

It wasn’t the only thing keeping the court busy. His camp has motions stacked up, one to quash the charges outright, arguing the acts alleged don’t even amount to the crime; another to consolidate the counts into a single joint trial instead of nine separate slogs. Sensible lawyering, whatever you think of the client. The court opted to sort through the paperwork before letting him enter a plea, pushing the arraignment to 18 August.

Court insiders told Nosy Tarsee that the congressman at least has good company in his misery — one of his other cases landed in the Third Division, the same one currently hosting a former senator and a sitting senator on their own graft troubles.

Moral of the story: if you’re going to stand accused of steering public contracts toward your own construction outfit, maybe don’t also stand accused of standing before the court as if it’s laundry day.