Marcos ouster case sent to Speaker’s office for action

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has been referred to the Speaker’s office, the House of Representatives secretary-general said on Wednesday, as another group prepared a separate bid to oust him.

In a statement, House Secretary-General Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafil said her office had sent the first complaint seeking Mr. Marcos’ ouster to the Office of Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III on Tuesday, a day after it was filed.

“Pursuant to established procedure, the Office of the Secretary-General has transmitted the verified impeachment complaint… for appropriate action,” she said.

Mr. Marcos is facing an impeachment complaint over allegations he profited from anomalous infrastructure contracts, with a minority congressman endorsing on Monday a complaint by a lawyer that cited five grounds for removal, including three directly tied to the multibillion-peso graft scandal.

Ms. Garafil said her swift referral of the complaint to Mr. Dy’s office was meant to ensure it is handled in a procedurally proper manner and to avoid infirmities.

“Upon receipt of any impeachment complaint, the Office of the Secretary-General ensures that the document is properly entered, recorded and forwarded to the proper office, emphasizing that the initial step is meant to preserve order and due process,” she said. 

Ms. Garafil’s quick submission of the complaint against Mr. Marcos starkly differs with the handling of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s case, who was impeached in February 2025 after more than one-third of lawmakers signed the bill in a single day.

Complaints against her had been filed as early as December 2024 but were not immediately forwarded to then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.

Meanwhile, a coalition of civil society groups plan to file a separate impeachment complaint against Mr. Marcos, citing betrayal of public trust as a ground for his removal.

Under the 1987 Constitution, impeachment can be pursued for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes or betrayal of public trust.

A complaint requires endorsement from at least one-third of House members before it can be sent to the Senate, which sits as an impeachment court.

“The impeachment is based on the systematic and large-scale plunder of public funds through a scheme of presidential and congressional ‘allocations’ for pet projects in the national budget, the unprecedented abuse of unprogrammed appropriations to fund even more anomalous infrastructure projects and the system of kickbacks,” Renato M. Reyes, Jr., president of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said in a statement.

Several officials, politicians and private contractors have been accused of pocketing funds meant for public works projects in the flood-prone nation. 

“All those involved must be held accountable, starting from the top,” he said. The complaint will be endorsed by three opposition lawmakers at the House and will be filed by workers, farmers and anti-corruption activists.

“We expect that this verified complaint will be transmitted to the Speaker and included in the order of business, and not be excluded in favor of what many are saying is a weak first complaint intended to shield the President,” Mr. Reyes said.

The Constitution bars Congress from initiating more than one impeachment proceeding against the same official within a single calendar year, and a lawmaker has warned the first complaint might be intended to trigger the ban amid what he described as weak arguments to back the President’s removal from office.

Arjan P. Aguirre, an associate political science professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said the first complaint might be a political move by administration allies to pre-empt possible impeachment bids against Mr. Marcos.

“The filing appears less substantive and more performative, giving the strong impression that it was undertaken primarily for publicity rather than for serious legal or constitutional accountability,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

Mr. Reyes said they would file their impeachment bid against Mr. Marcos as they were “concerned with the one-year ban.”

“Since the first complaint… was already transmitted to the Speaker, the same complaint can be referred to the Justice committee when session resumes on Monday, thus triggering the one-year ban,” he said in a Viber message.

Impeachment bids that will be filed this year could test a Supreme Court ruling in July last year that tightened rules on proceedings. The court said due process and fairness must apply at every stage of the process.