Palace awaits Justice panel finding

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s appearance before the House Committee on Justice will depend on his legal counsel, the Palace said on Wednesday, as he faces two ouster complaints regarding his alleged hand in the flood control scandal.

“Let’s look at the work of the House of Representatives first, regarding the… substance of the impeachment complaints, and let’s just wait and see if they will extend an invitation to our President,” Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro told a news briefing in Filipino.

Two ouster complaints were filed against the President before the House, both of which alleged graft, constitutional violations and betrayal of public trust — three of the five grounds for impeachment under the 1987 Constitution, alongside bribery and other high crimes.

The accusations focused on his alleged hand in siphoning billions of pesos for flood control projects to congressional districts.

The Justice committee set the hearing for the complaints next week. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Marcos skipped a separate event earlier on Wednesday as he caught up with paperwork, said Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto.

Mr. Recto said the President’s absence from the Pagpupugay 2025: Parangal sa mga Lingkod Bayani was not due to his recent health scare.

“He’s fine,” he told BusinessWorld via Viber. “It’s only natural for his (doctor) to recommend that he rest for a week.”

Ms. Castro, in a separate press briefing, said the Palace sees no need to issue a medical bulletin regarding the President’s health.

“As far as we know, when a medical bulletin is issued, it must be a serious illness. If the President said it is not life-threatening, then why is the medical bulletin needed now when we are providing you with the President’s health status?” she said in Filipino.

The President was hospitalized for a night last week due to diverticulitis or the inflammation or infection of small pouches (diverticula) in the colon wall. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana