OpenPinas: Weekly Review

Activists filed two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte on February 2, the first day the one-year bar allowed new filings. Makabayan endorsed the first; Tindig Pilipinas, church leaders, Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña, and former Senator Leila de Lima backed the second. House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil later confirmed both reached Speaker Bojie Dy.

The justice committee dismissed two complaints against President Marcos as insufficient in substance, 42–1–3 and 39–7. The finding, later upheld in plenary, starts a one-year impeachment bar. The same week the House was already receiving new complaints against the vice president.

Government infrastructure spending stayed frozen while the Independent Commission for Infrastructure sent Marcos a 125-day report covering September 15, 2025 to January 18, 2026. OECD still projected 5.1 percent growth in 2026, but analysts warned the freeze plus rising diesel prices could undercut that path. The scandal has turned a growth driver into a drag.

Coast Guard technical divers located the wreck off Baluk-Baluk Island as the death toll from the January 26 sinking reached 45. Aleson Shipping, already grounded, was tied to more than 30 prior maritime incidents. Families in the Zamboanga–Sulu corridor remained dependent on the same ferry routes under audit.

Basyang made five landfalls from Surigao del Sur through the Visayas and dissipated over the Sulu Sea on February 7. PAGASA had 14 areas under Signal No. 2 at peak. The storm added flood risk for provinces still hosting Mayon evacuees.

PHIVOLCS measured more than 6,500 tonnes of sulfur dioxide on February 6, the highest in 15 years, with the February average at 5,503 tonnes/day — more than double January. Lava had reached 3.7 km in Basud Gully after about 30 days of effusion. APSEMO told residents within 8 km to prepare if the alert rises to 4.

A Chinese navy ship challenged a Philippine government aircraft 28 times over Scarborough Shoal during a routine flight. Palace officials said sovereignty assertions will continue. The incident came as Chinese ship counts in the WPS sat at 41, double December's figure.

Seventeen-year-old Tallulah Proulx became the Philippines' youngest Winter Olympian and Southeast Asia's first woman at a Winter Games as the Milan-Cortina opening ceremony began. Quezon City-born Francis Ceccarelli, 22, joined her on the alpine-skiing team. It is only the country's sixth Winter Olympics appearance.