House justice panel finds impeachment complaints vs. President Marcos insubstantial

The Philippine House justice committee on Wednesday said two impeachment complaints against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, accusing him of corruption, violating the constitution and betraying public trust, were lacking in substance.

On a third day of discussions about the complaints filed separately by a lawyer and activists, the committee overwhelmingly decided both lacked merit. Marcos, who is midway through his term in office, had denied wrongdoing.

The House of Representatives is expected to convene for a plenary vote where it could either uphold the committee's findings or override the decisions. The chamber is currently dominated by loyalists of the president.

The committee did not announce the next steps to be taken to handle the two complaints.

For Marcos to be impeached it must be supported by at least one-third of the lower house. If that happens, he would be the second Philippine head of state to be impeached after Joseph Estrada, whose 2001 trial was aborted when some prosecutors walked out.

The complaints against Marcos included his decision to allow his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to be arrested and taken to The Hague to face trial at the International Criminal Court over thousands of killings during his notorious "war on drugs".

Marcos, 68, was also accused of abusing his authority in spending public funds that led to a corruption scandal involving flood-control projects. His alleged drug use, which he has denied, also made him unfit to run the country, according to one of the complaints.

If the lower house decides to impeach him, the Senate would be required to convene for trial, where its 24 members serve as jurors.

Five top officials have been impeached in the Philippines and only one of those, a former chief justice, was convicted and removed from office.

-Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by Martin Petty and David Stanway/Reuters