Philippine lawmakers find bid to impeach Marcos to be 'insufficient in substance'

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine legislators dismissed two impeachment complaints Wednesday against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that accused him of an array of crimes, including involvement in largescale corruption, that were all declared “insufficient in substance.”

Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte were separately facing impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives, which is dominated by the president's allies. At least two impeachment complaints have been filed against Duterte mainly for alleged corruption but it’s unclear when they would be tackled.

The two leaders were former allies that later became embroiled in bruising political disputes, deepening divisions in one of Asia’s most unwieldy democracies.

After days of deliberations, the House justice committee voted to dismiss the impeachment complaints filed by left-wing activists and a lawyer against Marcos. A majority of its 46 members argued that most of the allegations would either be difficult to validate, did not directly implicate the president or did not fall squarely under the constitutional grounds for impeachment and threw them out “for insufficiency in substance.”

One of the allegations cited a former House lawmaker, Zaldy Co, who accused the president of receiving huge kickbacks from flood control projects in videos he posted on Facebook. Co, who has been implicated in the corruption scandal, could not be located. He has denied any wrongdoing but has been hunted by the police in the country and abroad after an anti-corruption court issued a warrant for his arrest last year.

Marcos welcomed the decision. “We’re happy that the process was followed and that the lawmakers recognized the real truth,” Communications undersecretary Claire Castro said.

Renato Reyes, one of the complainants from the left-wing political alliance Bayan, said the House decision “derailed accountability.”

“We were prepared to present evidence at the next stage,” Reyes said. “What was only required at the current stage was a recital of the offenses that constitute betrayal of public trust.”

Under Philippine law, opponents seeking to impeach any top official would have to wait for a year before being allowed to seek another impeachment attempt.

Last year, the House voted to impeach the vice president and sent the case to the Senate for trial.

The Supreme Court, however, later ruled that the House violated a constitutional rule that only one impeachment case could be processed by it in a single year.

Duterte survived last year’s impeachment attempt over the legal technicality. Two groups of opponents then re-filed separate impeachment complaints against her on Monday after the one-year prohibition period lapsed.

The complaints centered on her alleged illegal use and mishandling of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3 million) in confidential funds from the vice president’s office, and also from her time as education secretary under Marcos. She has generally denied any wrongdoing but has refused to provide detailed explanations in past congressional inquiries.

Duterte’s threat in an online news conference in November 2024 to have the president, his wife and House of Representatives speaker killed by an assassin if she were killed amid their disputes was also cited in the one of the impeachment complaints.

The vice president is the daughter of ex- President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw bloody anti-drug crackdowns while in office from 2016 to 2022. He was arrested and detained in the Netherlands by the International Criminal Court last year for alleged crimes against humanity.