Marcos faces second impeach complaint, leftists say House ‘blocked’ receipt

MANILA, Philippines – Progressive groups submitted to the House of Representatives the second impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, January 22, but claimed the chamber refused to receive the document.

The impeachment petition, filed by stalwarts of the Left and endorsed by the three-person Makabayan bloc, accuses Marcos of betrayal of public trust, a ground for impeachment under the Constitution.

The person supposed to receive it — House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil — was not present.

Garafil is scheduled to be conferred by Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, one of its top civilian decorations, on Friday, January 23.

Petitioners insisted that as per House rules, the complaint shall be filed with the Office of the Secretary General, not necessarily the secretary general herself.

“They don’t want to accept it so what we did was leave a copy with her office,” former Bayan Muna congressman Teddy Casiño said. “As far as the complainants are concerned, we have complied with the rules.”

The filing snag complicates the situation for impeachment filers, and may create a scenario that ultimately benefits Marcos.

There is already one impeachment complaint filed against Marcos on Monday, January 19, endorsed by Pusong Pinoy Representative Jett Nisay. Observers believe it is a weak, poorly written complaint that will easily be dismissed when it reaches the House justice committee.

If that complaint is junked, Marcos essentially gets a one-year immunity from impeachment.

But if the Left, which has a long history of filing impeachment complaints, successfully files its petition before the start of the plenary session on Monday, January 26, it will be part of the first batch of complaints that the justice committee is compelled to assess.

“If we allow (the impeachment process to be a race), what will happen is that every year, someone will file a weak complaint just to trigger the one-year ban and protect the impeachable official,” Bayan president Renato Reyes said.

Their complaint cites the following alleged lapses of the President:

• the creation of the “BBM parametric formula,” a method that allocated public works budgets across legislative districts but was later derided for inconsistencies
• the flood control corruption scandal
• the unprogrammed appropriations mess
• the public works kickback scheme

Included in the group’s documentary evidence are the Department of Public Works and Highways document that adopted the “BBM parametric formula,” the Special Allotment Release Orders that authorized the release of P213.8 billion in unprogrammed funds, sworn affidavits by former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo that detailed the kickback modus, and the so-called “Cabral files” that listed “allocables” for various project proponents including the Office of the President.

“The flood control corruption scandal is not a case of isolated wrongdoing by rogue officials. It is not a matter of a few contractors bribing a few engineers. It is a systematic, institutionalized scheme of plunder designed from the top and executed through the deliberate abuse of presidential discretionary,” the document reads. – Rappler.com