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January 26, 2026 | 12:35pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Makabayan bloc formally endorsed and filed its impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday, January 26, following the House Office of the Secretary General's refusal to receive it last week.
Secretary General Cheloy Garafil, who was absent when it was first filed, personally received the complaint and administered the oath to Reps. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Party-list), Sarah Elago (Gabriela Women’s Party-list) and Renee Co (Kabataan Party-list), who endorsed the complaint.
Garafil was on a pre-scheduled trip to Taipei on January 22 to receive the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon award from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although House rules specify that impeachment complaints must be filed with the OSG — not necessarily with the secretary general in person — the office still refused to accept the filing because Garafil was not present.
With the impeachment complaint now successfully filed, it becomes the second lodged against the president in just a week. The first was filed on January 19 by lawyer Andre de Jesus and endorsed by Rep. Jett Nisay (Pusong Pinoy Party-list).
Unlike the first complaint, the second was submitted by 36 members of progressive groups representing workers, professionals, teachers, students, farmers and the urban poor.
The complainants cited betrayal of public trust as the sole ground for impeaching President Marcos, alleging three specific instances. These include the creation of the "parametric formula" for district allocables in infrastructure projects, the alleged abuse of discretionary power over unprogrammed appropriations, and his alleged involvement in budgetary insertions and the kickback scheme.
Spanning 37 pages, the complaint detailed the specific charges, cited evidence from testimonies in ongoing flood control investigations, and outlined the legal basis for the alleged betrayal of public trust.
It includes former lawmaker Elizaldy Co's claim that Marcos ordered him to insert P100 billion into the national budget, the so-called "Cabral files" of the late Public Works undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo's testimony on billions in kickbacks sent to the Office of the Executive Secretary, and the use of unprogrammed funds to finance infrastructure projects that were substandard, incomplete or never built.
Matters of timing
Bayan President Renato Reyes Jr., one of the complainants, said in an ambush interview that even though the second impeachment complaint has been formally filed, Garafil could not guarantee it would be referred to the justice committee at the same time as the first complaint.
The first complaint was transmitted to the Office of the Speaker a day after it was filed. Under House rules, it must be included in the Order of Business within 10 session days before being referred to the justice committee.
With Congress set to resume session on Monday, the first complaint may be referred to the committee then. Should this happen, the only way to have the second complaint included is to have it transmitted to the Speaker's office before plenary resumes at 3 p.m.
Reyes said they had asked Garafil if this was possible, but all she could assure them was that the complaint would be sent the next day, as was done with the first complaint. They were also told that the OSG had no control over whether the first complaint would be referred to the justice committee during Monday's plenary session.
Should the first complaint reach the justice committee on Monday, the impeachment process against Marcos would be deemed initiated under constitutional and House rules, effectively preventing any other complaints from being filed against him for one year.
