More House leaders see no reason to impeach Marcos

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January 18, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — More leaders of the House of Representatives have brushed aside talk of an impeachment move against President Marcos, saying there is no complaint yet or a justification for one.

“Right now, there is no incident. There is no basis, to say the least, for the impeachment of the President. And until such an impeachment complaint would be filed and on what basis, then we can take a stand on the matter,” House committee on higher and technical education chairman Jude Acidre of Tingog Party-list said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

“As a third person observer, no, I don’t think there’s any reason, unlike the previous impeachment of the Vice President, where it was preceded by a series of investigations that at a certain point, it became clear to us that it was the logical and principal consequence of all the investigations that we’ve done,” Acidre added.

On Friday, Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno of Antipolo City, who is also National Unity Party (NUP) chairman, said he and his party-mates are against any move to impeach Marcos as there is no constitutional or factual grounds to support such an initiative.

Acidre said it is not fair to the people and to the institution they represent to comment on what could be plain rumor.

“What I can say with certainty is that when the opportunity comes, we will have to look into the merits of the case and we will have to act according to our mandate,” he said.

“But for now, there is no case. And we will not be in a position to say, at the very least, what possible impeachable offenses would be presented,” he added.

Asked if he thought an impeachment push in the House could marshal the numbers needed to progress, Acidre acknowledged it would be an uphill battle for its proponents.

“It will be a challenge. I’ll have to be honest with you, considering that a majority of the members are strongly behind the President. I think any impeachment, in the end – as you said it’s a question of mathematics – would have its own challenges,” Acidre said

House committee on suffrage and electoral reform chairman Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur also expressed belief the accusations against the President have not gone up to the level of impeachment offenses.

“Let me add because it is a rumor. This actually circulated not only among the mainstream media but even in social media,” Adiong, a stalwart of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), said.

“First of all, we don’t really know who wants to file. That is why these kinds of discussion are very, very vague, shapeless, formless,” Adiong added.

He said that to his knowledge, no individual or group is really coming forward to file an impeachment complaint against President Marcos and on what grounds.

“So it’s really hard. It’s formless, it’s shapeless and we do not even know what actually prompted these possible groups or individuals to even file,” he said.

“We do not even know what they can attribute directly to the President that amounts to an impeachable offense,” he pointed out.