Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is facing an impeachment complaint, the first since he came into power in 2022, as House lawmakers regroup next week to resume session after a one-month holiday break.
The impeachment complaint, filed by a private lawyer and endorsed by a House deputy minority leader, is expected to be tackled on Jan. 26 by the plenary before the House Committee on Justice begins debates on its form and substance.
But this early, justice committee chair Gerville Luistro said the impeachment bid against the president is unlikely to meet the same fate as earlier efforts to oust Vice President Sara Duterte. The Supreme Court in July last year junked the articles of impeachment against Duterte after it violated the one-year constitutional ban against filing.
“These are two different modes eh kasi yung kay VP it was filed by at least one-third of the members of the House. And that is the subject matter of the decision of the Supreme Court which the House of Representatives filed a motion for reconsideration which is still unresolved,” she told reporters.
“Eto naman… this is filed by a private individual which is being sponsored by one of the House members,” Luistro added.
The complainant is lawyer Andre de Jesus who said that regardless of whether the impeachment could muster the required number from congressmen for it to progress, “at least I tried to do the right thing, win or lose.”
His backer, Pusong Pinoy partylist Rep. Jernie Nisay who is also the deputy leader of the House minority, is also dragged into the flood control controversy. The partylist congressman was included in the Independent Commission for Infrastructure’s (ICI) charge sheet filed before the Ombudsman last year for his questionable public works contracts under JVN Construction and Trading.
“Public office is a public trust that no one not even the president is above the law so sabi nga mapanagot ang dapat mapanagot,” Nisay told reporters on the sidelines of the complaint filing.
The impeachment complaint was lodged on the grounds that the president allegedly violated the constitution, betrayed public trust, and committed graft.
In his suit, the complainant said those grounds were based on Marcos’ involvement in the arrest of his predecessor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the latter’s subsequent imprisonment at The Hague; his supposed failure to veto unprogrammed funds or the standby funds in the national budget; and his alleged ties to congressmen and politicians who were tagged in the corrupt schemes in flood control projects.
De Jesus also alleged that the president “is unfit to serve as president due to drug addiction,” citing the public pronouncements of his sister Senator Imee Marcos.
But Malacanang rebuffed all allegations.
“The Palace recognizes that the filing of complaints is part of the democratic process provided for under our Constitution. We respect this process and trust that Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, will discharge its duties with honesty, integrity and fidelity to the rule of law,” the Palace said in a statement read by its press officer Claire Castro.
“The President fully upholds the Constitution and remains confident in the strength of our democratic institutions,” the statement read.
