The Tamesis
February 3, 2026
Manila – Bicol Salo party-list Rep. Terry Reardon said Sunday that the outcome of the two House impeachment charges against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will ultimately depend on the evidence against him and the “conscience” of lawmakers.
The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on Monday on a separate complaint filed last month by attorney Andre DeJesus and the Makabayan Alliance. This is the first lawsuit filed against the president since he took office in 2022.
“The entire committee is ready to hear two questions – the sufficiency of form and the sufficiency of substance – on the two impeachment charges filed against President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr.,” said House Public Accounts Committee Chairman Reardon.
He stressed that any views or positions from outside the House would not influence lawmakers’ decisions because impeachment is “the sole prerogative of the Legislature” and constitutional standards remain the guiding framework.
Charges are under review
“The impeachment process will always be fact-based; it will be based on evidence, and decisions related to impeachment will be based on the conscience of every member of the House,” he said.
“Because in any impeachment proceeding, ultimately the discussion is what is the basis. Is it a serious violation of the Constitution? Is it a betrayal of the public trust?” Reeden added.
According to him, once the hearing begins, the complainant will have an opportunity to state the basis for the accusation.
But when it came to the substance of the charges, Reardon noted that he believed some of the complaints did not meet the constitutional basis needed for impeachment.
He specifically mentioned the president’s alleged actions that De Jesus cited for allowing “the kidnapping and handing over of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
“What the executive branch is doing is enforcing a treaty between the Philippines and Interpol. I don’t think there is an impeachable offense in this case. It does not rise to the level of a serious violation of the Constitution… [or] This is a betrayal of the public trust,” Reardon said.
As for Marcos’ alleged failure to veto unplanned appropriations in the proposed national budget for 2023 to 2026, Reeden said this has been the practice since 1989.
“I don’t think the Supreme Court has ever said this is an unconstitutional provision of the state budget,” he noted.
Consolidate complaints
Rep. Gerville Luistro of Batangas, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said earlier that the impeachment complaints must first be consolidated before the panel can begin deliberations on Monday “because it is impossible for the Judiciary Committee to hear two complaints.”
“So we will do that at the initial hearing,” she said.
Other grounds De Jesus cited in his Jan. 19 impeachment complaint were the president’s alleged drug use; his creation of an independent commission on infrastructure, allegedly to protect corrupt allies; and accusations that his referral of Duterte to the International Criminal Court violated the constitution and betrayed the public trust.
Makabayan’s impeachment complaint, filed on January 26, on the other hand, focuses on the “BBM Parameter Formula” – a policy of the Department of Public Works and Highways that stands for “Baseline-Balance-Management.”
Makabayan said the BBM parametric formula “provides justification for the allocation of infrastructure projects in the national budget by the President and Congress,” which is considered “the basis for kickbacks or commitments.”
The group’s complaint also cites claims by resigned congressman and fugitive Elizardi that Marcos and other cabinet officials received kickbacks from unusual government projects.
Is there a new case against Duterte?
A new impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte is also expected as a one-year ban on filing complaints against her expires on February 6.
Reardon said the impeachment complaint filed by the Senate last August may be refiled “as is” because the Supreme Court’s ruling did not touch on the substance of the case against Duterte.
“It can be submitted as it is because there is no debate on form and there is no debate on substance,” he said, adding that the facts cited in the previous complaint remained unchanged.
“So in rehearing the vice president’s impeachment case, I don’t think the facts have changed from last year. We’re still going to be discussing the use of classified funds and death threats against the president, the first lady and the former speaker of the House,” Reeden said.
In a July 2025 ruling, the high court said the impeachment charges against Duterte were unconstitutional because they violated the one-year deadline for bringing more than one charge against impeachable officials.
Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito warned on Sunday that simultaneous impeachments against the country’s two top government officials could send a signal of political instability to the international community.
“Imagine the signal it could send to the international community if the impeachment complaint against the president and vice president went ahead… It would leave a vacuum, [create] Political instability,” he said in a dzBB radio interview.
