Members of the House Committee on Justice expressed doubts on Tuesday about whether an impeachment complaint linking President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has enough merit to proceed.
The complaint, filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus and endorsed by Pusong Pinoy Party-list Representative Jernie Jett Nisay, alleges that Marcos consented to Duterte’s ICC arrest, which the complainant claims violates the Constitution and public trust.
Committee members from both the majority and minority noted that the complaint relied heavily on news articles rather than personal knowledge or authenticated documents.
“Wala pong batayan para sabihin that the former President was kidnapped, more importantly kidnapping is a legal conclusion and it does not constitute as a statement of fact. Doon pa lang po parang meron na pong problema yung pong ground po na ito,” said Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon.
“I think it has been sufficiently established that this was not a kidnapping, this was an implementation of a warrant that have been issued by the Interpol, in which the Interpol sought the assistance of the Republic of the Philippines to implement this particular arrest warrant,” he added.
Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua also noted:
“Dapat po the act is illegal or the deprivation of liberty is without legal justification. Eh maliwanag naman po that the arrest of the former President was via warrant issued by the ICC. Kaya masasabi ko po na yung offense charged will not be sufficient in substance.”
Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Representative Leila de Lima echoed the concerns:
“Complainant, I humbly submit, cannot presume judicial notice of sequence of events that transpired in the former President’s arrest. He must alleged the specific facts of the arrest relevant to this ground of impeachment and not merely a general allegation that the former President was arrested and transferred to ICC.”
“Complainant must state the specific acts laying down the conclusion that PBBM resorted to foreign intervention and disregarded domestic processes. The complaint must answer the question of what were the specific acts committed by PBBM that constituted consenting to foreign intervention,” she added.
Palawan 2nd District Representative Jose Alvarez emphasized that even if Marcos had knowledge of the arrest, it would not qualify as an impeachable offense.
“Even given that the President was there during the planning of the execution to serve the warrant, even if he committed error in judgment is not an impeachable offense,” Alvarez said.
During questioning, Nisay admitted that the complaint’s attachments were mostly news articles, prompting Quezon City 4th District Representative Bong Suntay to remark:
“But the President cannot be impeached based on news reports.”
Other lawmakers, including Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Representative Brian Poe, and Galing sa Puso Party-list Representative Jan Padiernos, also cited insufficient evidence.
Deliberations on whether the complaint is sufficient in substance were suspended and a vote was scheduled for Wednesday, February 4.