The House Committee on Justice has dismissed two impeachment complaints filed against Ferdinand Marcos Jr., ruling that both were insufficient in substance. In a vote held on Wednesday, the committee junked the first complaint filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus with 42 members voting to dismiss, one opposing, and three abstentions. The second complaint, filed by the Makabayan coalition, also failed after only seven members voted in favor of declaring it sufficient in substance, while 39 voted against it. The De Jesus complaint accused the President of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution, citing allegations such as his supposed role in the surrender of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court, claims of drug use, and failure to veto controversial budget provisions from 2023 to 2026. Meanwhile, the Makabayan-backed complaint alleged that President Marcos enabled corruption through the adoption of the Baselined-Balanced-Managed (BBM) Parametric Formula, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) policy used in allocating infrastructure budgets, which critics claim led to ghost, substandard, and overpriced flood control projects. Former Gabriela party-list representative Liza Maza criticized the panel’s decision, saying it denied accountability over alleged corruption linked to flood control spending. Other endorsers echoed this view, arguing that the policy bore the President’s initials and was implemented under his administration. However, House Justice Committee Chairperson and Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro stressed that impeachment requires clear, specific, and fact-based allegations directly attributable to the impeachable official. She explained that a president cannot be impeached solely because of alleged wrongdoing elsewhere in the bureaucracy or because policies are later criticized, warning that such a standard would undermine constitutional safeguards.
