Members of Philippine civil society groups yesterday filed an impeachment complaint against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the Philippines, where entire towns were flooded amid typhoons in the past year.
The 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.
Photo: AFP
Under the Philippine constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the Philippine House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said, although it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The president institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over 545.6 billion pesos [US$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 [midterm] elections,” a summary of the filing said.
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.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait [to see] its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” Castro said.
Marcos has consistently said that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage, and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
However, complainant Liza Maza told reporters that she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” Maza said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with its own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
According to the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint, provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of the Philippine Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
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