The House Committee on Justice has officially sealed the dismissal of the two impeachment complaints filed against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., adopting its committee report and resolution in a lopsided 39-4 vote with no abstentions.

Committee Chair Rep. Gerville Luistro announced the outcome on Monday, explaining that the panel had followed its longstanding practice of requiring members to strictly vote yes or no — and allowing them to place their explanations on record afterward.

“With 39 votes in favor of the motion, four against, and zero abstentions, the motion adopting the committee report and its accompanying resolution is approved,” Luistro declared.

She reminded the panel members that while partial positions on the separate complaints had surfaced during earlier deliberations, the final adoption vote required a clear choice — with room for members to explain any mixed stance afterward.

That was exactly what Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal Partylist Rep. Leila de Lima did.

De Lima said she agreed with the committee’s finding that the first impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus was insufficient in substance, citing its weak factual grounding. However, she strongly disagreed with the dismissal of the second complaint filed by 36 petitioners led by former Gabriela Representative Liza Maza and the Makabayan bloc, which she believed deserved further scrutiny.

Her position was officially recorded as a “concur and dissent” vote.

The adoption of the report capped three days of intense committee hearings earlier this month, where the lawmakers examined whether or not the complaints met the constitutional requirement of being “sufficient in substance.”

In those earlier votes on 4 February, the panel overwhelmingly junked the De Jesus complaint, 42–1 with three abstentions.

A separate attempt by Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice to declare the Makabayan-backed complaint sufficient in substance also failed badly, drawing only seven votes in favor against 39 opposed, with no abstentions.

In both cases, the committee stressed that the complaints lacked physical or concrete evidence to back up the accusations against the President, making them legally weak under impeachment standards.

With the committee report now formally adopted, the next step is its consideration by the plenary. The Committee on Justice is finalizing the documents before transmitting them to the full House for action.

In a radio interview, Luistro underscored that impeachment is a serious constitutional process that requires well-substantiated claims from the very beginning.

She said the collapse of the complaints against Marcos should serve as a reminder that impeachment cases cannot rely on broad allegations or political narratives alone — evidence must already be attached and verifiable.

As the chapter on the President’s impeachment closes for now, attention is shifting quickly to the separate impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Luistro described the situation as “unprecedented” and “historical,” noting how rare it is for both the President and Vice President to be the subject of impeachment efforts within the same period.

However, she cautioned against making early judgments in Duterte’s case, stressing that it would be premature to assess its strength until the committee formally receives and reviews the report during plenary proceedings.