The House Committee on Justice suspended on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 3 the vote on the sufficiency in substance on the first impeachment complaint filed against President Marcos, but only after panel members verbally tore it apart for apparent lack of merit.

The members did so for over three hours as the committee put the complaint, filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus, to the sufficiency test in terms of substance.

Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro, committee chairman, said the voting for sufficiency in substance on the De Jesus complaint would instead take place on the next scheduled hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

"So for today, you've witnessed our deliberation on the sufficiency in substance of the Jesus complaint. We suspended the voting on the sufficiency of substance because we wanted to give time to the justice [panel] members to think them over all the discussions that we had today before they vote tomorrow afternoon," Luistro said in a press conference after the public hearing.

Also slated to take place Wednesday are the discussions on the sufficiency in substance pertaining to the second complaint against against the President. This was filed by militant grpup leaders and former Makabayan bloc congressmen led by Liza Maza.

"What happened today was quite exhaustive already and we wanted the Congs to have fresh minds when they listen to the manifestation of position of the endorsers of Maza, et al," said Luistro.

She observed that the majority of comments during Tuesday's hearing pertained to the requirement of recital of acts, "which must constitute an offense that is determinative of the jurisdiction of the justice committee meaning it should be an impeachable offense".

"Gaya nung palagi kung sinasabi (Like what I always say), it's not enough that the official is guilty of an offense. That offense must constitute a ground for impeachment," she noted.

Subscribing to this notion during the hearing on the De Jesus complaint was Senior Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 3rd district Rep. Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo

“It is upon the responsibility of this committee not simply to accept a recital in an impeachment complaint. We have the duty to determine it with diligence. And it is not acceptance merely of allegations. It is determination of facts which should at this stage be at least supported to determine whether there is sufficient or probable cause,” he said.

“So, it is only proper that the recital of facts should at this stage be at least supported by evidence for us to declare that the complaint is sufficient not only in form but also in substance,” Defensor said.

The De Jesus and Maza, et al complaints were declared sufficient in form by the Luistro panel during a similar hearing Monday, Feb. 2.

The five arguments or allegations in the first complaint are as follows: 1.) Marcos allowed the "virtual kidnapping", subsequent arrest and detention of former president Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court; 2.) Marcos is a drug addict; 3.) Marcos failed to veto unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the national budget; 4.) Marcos received kickbacks from anomalous and "ghost" flood control projects; and 5.) Marcos established the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to shield his allies from the flood control projects mess.

Suffice it to say that all arguments were found lacking by both majority and minority members of the panel, who otherwise saved their official vote for Wednesday.

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said that based on his reading of the petition and its attachments, De Jesus “lacks personal knowledge and authentic documents” to support his allegations against the President.

Ridon said five of the attached pieces of evidence were news articles, while three were supposed congressional documents on hearings of the Duterte arrest, which he added were not certified true copies.

“Para sa akin, walang batayan (For me, this is baseless)…there is insufficiency of substance,” said Ridon, chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts.

Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, vice chairman of the Committee on Justice, said for the charge of kidnapping to prosper, the offender "must be a private individual".

Former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary and Mamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said De Jesus failed to cite “specifics facts” of the Duterte arrest and turnover to the ICC.

“Former President Duterte was not surrendered but arrested on the strength of an ICC warrant,” noted De Lima, a deputy minority leader.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the Philippine government “was duty-bound to enforce the ICC arrest warrant in compliance with international law".

Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said the allegation on drug addiction cannot amount to an impeachable offense without verified proof.

“Absent verified and authoritative proof showing impairment in office or misconduct indirectly related to the exercise of Presidential functions, such allegations cannot establish impeachable offense and should not be given weight,” he said.

FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Poe cited official records contradicting this particular accusation against the President.

“What we know for a fact and what is actually on record is that on November 2021, there was a negative drug test that was attested to at St. Luke’s,” Poe said.

“On May 2024, there was actually a Senate hearing in which one drug analyst, Jereza Reyes, and laboratory head, Dr. Cecilia Lim, confirmed that the President tested negative specifically for cocaine,” he added.

Defensor, in another manifestation, said he was "compelled to speak for the membership of the ICI regarding this allegation that it was created to shield corrupt allies".

"The appointment and participation of the members of the ICI, particularly secretary Rogelio Singson, whose integrity and reputation speaks of good governance, contravenes the allegations by this impeachment complaint head-on," said the senior deputy majority leader.

"Hindi ka maglalagay ng mga taong naging the ehemplo ng mabuting patakaran at pamahalaan kung ang balak ay pagtakpan ang corruption (You would not appoint people who have been exemplars of good policy and governance if the intention is to cover up corruption)," he added.

Rodriguez said he "took exception" to this particular allegation, as he also vouched for the integrity of Singson and other ICI appointees. He noted that both allies and non-allies of the Marcos administration have been subjected to investigation by the body.