Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has dodged the impeachment bullet after the House Justice Committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to declare the two impeachment complaints filed against him as both "insufficient in substance."

Voting 42 in favour of the motion of insufficiency with a lone dissension, the 47-member committee struck down the first impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus, who filed the first impeachment complaint against Marcos on January 19.

The second complaint – filed by several cause-oriented groups – fared a little better with seven votes in favour of the motion to declare it sufficient in substance, but was buried by 39 votes against it. 

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Both complaints cited the President’s role in the flood control and national budget corruption. 

The second impeachment complaint seen by Khaleej Times says: “This complaint arises from what may be characterised as the most systematic, brazen, and devastating scheme of corruption to plague Philippine infrastructure spending in recent history: the flood control projects corruption scandal from 2022 to 2025.”

The petitioners have accused Marcos of having direct knowledge of institutionalising corruption in the country’s national budget, allowing mechanisms that make anomalous public works projects under his government.

Rally in front of the Philippine House of Representatives calling for the impeachment of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for corruption and betrayal of public trust

Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Sarah Elago, one of the endorsers of the second complaint, condemned the decision as “a disservice to the people who are demanding accountability”. 

“Instead of listening to the people's demands for corruption investigation, the so-called ‘big fish’ like President Marcos Jr., were not even allowed to appear before the hearing," Elago said. 

"The real reason why the majority does not want to escalate the complaints to a full-blown hearing is clear: The administration's allies do not want Marcos Jr. to appear before the committee to explain and answer the serious allegations against him. He does not want to face the people," she added, underscoring the house committee is made up of the president’s allies “ who took turns in exonerating him from the reported anomalous projects.” 

What’s next

In throwing out the petitions, Marcos Jr. has a year’s reprieve before another impeachment complaint may be lodged against him.

The committee is expected to prepare its report on the dismissal of both complaints for submission to plenary on or before March 27.

An impeachment complaint is the first step to remove government officials from office based on several offenses, including betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Philippine Constitution.

The justice committee will again meet later this month to tackle the separate impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte.

Activist legislators re-filed their impeachment complaint against Duterte on Monday for "gross abuse of discretionary powers" over at least 612.5 million peso (Dh38.3 million) worth of funds she refuses to account for.

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