Sawt Falasteen - Philippine President Marcos hit with impeachment complaint

Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.

Thursday's filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.

A copy of the complaint was filed at the House of Representatives' Office of the Secretary General "in accordance with House rules", petitioners said Thursday, though the official was not present to receive it herself.

"The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ₱545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections," a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.

It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.

"The President's involvement in the grand scheme of corruption makes impeachment necessary to hold him accountable. The people have been robbed repeatedly and systematically," the summary says.

Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects centre stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.

But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.

"We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up," she said. "Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption."

Thursday's complaint is the second filed against Marcos this week, after a local lawyer brought a case citing last year's arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of former president Rodrigo Duterte, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.

Under the Philippine Constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.

Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila's University of Santo Tomas, told AFP on Thursday the new complaint was unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.

"This ... has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives," Coronacion said.

In 2024, a trio of complaints was filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. The cases ultimately led to her impeachment early last year by the House of Representatives and an abortive Senate trial that saw the senior body send the case back.

The country's Supreme Court later tossed the case, ruling it violated a constitutional provision against multiple impeachment proceedings within a single year.

H.Darwish--SF-PST