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Philippine Congress suspends vote on Marcos impeachment complaints
President Marcos faces two impeachment complaints for “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust”
- PUBLISHED: Tue 3 Feb 2026, 12:36 PM UPDATED: Tue 3 Feb 2026, 7:14 PM
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The congressional committee investigating the two impeachment complaints against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suspended on Tuesday without voting on the sufficiency of substance on the first grievance.
The Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives suspended voting on whether there is enough reason to impeach Marcos based on the first complaint filed by a lawyer after hours of “exhaustive discussions.” Committee chairperson Jinky Luistro acceded to requests from several members to hold the voting on Wednesday, after discussions on the merits of the second complaint by activist groups.
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Two weeks ago, several cause-oriented groups filed an impeachment complaint against Marcos, accusing him of “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.” Lawyer Andre de Jesus filed the first impeachment complaint against Marcos on January 19.
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On Monday, February 2, the 47-member congressional committee voted that the first and second complaints were sufficient in form. The next step was to decide the substance of the complaints and whether Marcos should be held liable for impeachable offences.
It seems clear from the discussions, however, that the first complaint may face rough sailing in tomorrow’s vote as committee members insisted on the inclusion of annexes in their determination of sufficiency.
This unprecedented and additional requirement goes beyond the traditional listing of alleged offences in the impeachment complaints.
First complaint endorser Rep. Jett Nisay also struggled against the barrage of questions from the predominantly pro-Marcos panel on Tuesday.
The second and more direct complaint endorsed by activist legislators, meanwhile, has a lone impeachable offence of betrayal of public trust.
The grievance accuses the president of institutionalising corruption in public works through so-called unprogrammed appropriations in the national budget.
Unprogrammed appropriations are lump sums inserted in the national budget, allegedly used in anomalous flood control projects of the Marcos administration.
Several whistleblowers have also alleged Marcos ordered such formula to receive billions of pesos in kickbacks.
The only son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Sr., Marcos Jr. is someone not beyond allegations of fraud himself, lawmakers who are members of the Makabayan (Patriotic) bloc underscored.