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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Erice hopes 'garbage' impeachment rap won't block better ones to be filed vs Marcos

Erice hopes 'garbage' impeachment rap won't block better ones to be filed vs Marcos

Published Jan 20, 2026 03:51 pm

At A Glance

  • Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice hopes that the "garbage" impeachment complaint filed against President Marcos won't end up blocking--whether by design or by chance--the stronger and better-crafted complaints that could be filed in the coming days.
Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)


Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Edgar "Egay" Erice hopes that the "garbage" impeachment complaint filed against President Marcos won't end up blocking--whether by design or by chance--the stronger and better-crafted complaints that could be filed in the coming days.
Erice, the senior deputy minority leader, raised this concern in a press conference Tuesday, Jan. 20, even as he bared that at least two other groups file separate impeachment raps against the Chief Executive.
In the presser, Erice didn't hold back on his thoughts about the impeachment complaint filed Monday by lawyer Andre de Jesus against Marcos. The lawyer gained the distinction of being the first individual to ever file an impeachment complaint against the sitting President.
"Yung sinampa niya na impeachment complaint is basura--15 pages na walang mga ebidensya kundi news article. Sa tingin ko ay hindi ito--wala ito sa porma at walang substance yung kanyang ifi-nile na impeachment complaint," he said of De Jesus.
(The impeachment complaint he filed is garbage—15 pages with no evidence except news articles. In my view, it lacks both form and substance; his filed impeachment complaint has neither.)
Staged?
Erice was then asked about the elephant in the room--did De Jesus "stage" the filing for the benefit of President Marcos?
"Well, I don't know his motive, pero sana huwag mangyari [na ma-block ang ibang complaints] kasi ang paggawa ng isang impeachment complaint, napakatagal niyan...Sana hindi mapigilan nito impeachment complaint na ito yung mga susunod pang impeachment complaints.
(Well, I don’t know his motive, but hopefully it won’t happen that other complaints get blocked, because preparing an impeachment complaint takes a very long time...I hope this impeachment complaint does not prevent future impeachment complaints from being filed.)
Congress is prohibited from initiating more than one impeachment complaint against the same impeachable officer within one year. This is a safeguard to ensure that the respondent government official won't use up his or her entire term answering such complaints.
But this prohibition could also be exploited by the impeachable officer's camp by making sure that a weak or watered-down complaint against him or her gets initiated first.
Erice just stopped short of saying this was the case with De Jesus.
But wait, there's more
The Caloocan solon hinted that more impeachment raps against the President--potentially more substantial ones--were on the way.
"May nag-imbita sakin para maging endorsers, pero tumanggi ako. And sabi nila, they are preparing for the impeachment complaint. So yung (the) Makabayan [bloc], they are also preparing for an impeachment complaint," he said.
(Someone invited me to be an endorser, but I declined. And they said they are preparing an impeachment complaint. The Makabayan bloc is also preparing an impeachment complaint.)
"Hindi madali ito, nakita niyo naman siguro noon yung impeachment complaint against the Vice President (Sara Duterte) kung gaano kakapal yung mga documents (This is not easy—you probably saw before the impeachment complaint against the Vice President, how thick the documents were," Erice added.
The House of Representatives impeached Vice President Duterte during the previous 19th Congress.
Pointing to the De Jesus complaint, Erice said. "Pag na-refer na ito sa Committee on Justice, ay wala na ibang pwedeng makapag-file ng impeachment sa--sana hindi nito mapigilan (Nobody else will be able to file an impeachment complaint [against Marcos] once this is referred to the Committee on Justice. I hope this doesn't block those complaints)."
The House of Representatives will resume plenary sessions on Jan. 26 following its month-long holiday break.
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