Critics of Philippines’ Marcos step up impeachment calls, cite ‘smoking gun’ letter

A 2024 letter signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s Executive Secretary Ralph Recto has become central to a renewed attempt to impeach the Philippine leader over allegations that billions of pesos meant for public health were diverted into infrastructure spending linked to politicians.Left-wing lawmakers and activists refiled an impeachment complaint against Marcos on Monday, accusing him of “betrayal of public trust” for allowing state health insurance funds to be channelled into flood control projects, which critics say functioned as a revived form of pork barrel spending.The complaint centres on the transfer of at least 60 billion pesos (US$1.04 billion) from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, or PhilHealth, into projects funded under “unprogrammed appropriations”, a discretionary budget category that can only be released with presidential approval.It comes after a letter written in April 2024 by Recto asking PhilHealth’s CEO to remit the funds, in which the then finance secretary referred to approval for the move at a cabinet meeting chaired by Marcos.This Week in Asia first learned of the letter from Dr Antonio Dans, convenor of the Health Professionals Alliance and an emeritus professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine.Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio has described that letter as “a smoking gun”, arguing it directly links the president to a transfer the Supreme Court later ruled unconstitutional.It remains to be seen if the letter is enough to implicate Marcos and give momentum to the impeachment push against him. Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the return of PhilHealth funds diverted to the national treasury, but did not rule on any criminal or presidential liability.