Manila: Lawmakers allied with Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday threw out three impeachment motions in the House of Representatives that had been the first political challenge to the popular leader in four years.

The impeachment motions stemmed from Aquino’s controversial economic stimulus fund, which the Supreme Court declared partly illegal in July, and a new military agreement with the United States.

Voting 54-4, the justice panel in the lower house of Congress declared the complaints “insufficient in substance”, dismissing the three motions only after two hearings.

“This is a terrible day for the Filipino people,” said Neri Colmenares, a left-wing member of Congress. “We only had two meetings, are you rushing these proceedings?” It will now go before a plenary session of the 290-member legislature, where Aquino’s opponents number only 40 in total.

Colmenares belongs to one of five militant sectoral parties in the House of Representatives that filed and endorsed the three impeachment complaints against Aquino.

Earlier, members of the House committee on justice, led by Congressman Niel Tupas, found the impeachment complaints “sufficient in form” and merited debate for approval or disapproval.

The first two complaints stemmed from Aquino’s creation of the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) in 2011, a holding agency for the savings of government line agencies under the president, which he would disburse at his discretion.

After the voting for the impeachment of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona for failing to disclose his assets and liabilities to the Senate in May 2012, several lawmakers revealed that they received additional development funds from the office of the president in October of the same year.

When forced to explain the source of the funds, Aquino’s Budget Secretary Florencio Abad admitted that they came from DAP, the existence of which was revealed for the first time. Abad had advised Aquino to create DAP with a presidential order in 2011.

This year, the Supreme Court ruled that DAP was unconstitutional, specially the transfer of funds from the executive to the legislative level.

The third impeachment complaint against Aquino claimed that the forging of the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the executive levels of the Philippines and the United States was unconstitutional.

Negotiating parties of both countries approved EDCA in time for the state visit by US President Barack Obama in April 2014.

EDCA allowed increased rotation of American soldiers nationwide, autonomous space for them at Philippine camps, and accommodation of US warships and other nuclear-powered war materiel in Philippine ports, which is against the 1987 Constitution, the complainants said.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue. Militant groups are expected to elevate their complaint to the Apex Court.

Meanwhile, observers said impeachment complaints filed against Aquino would not succeed because their success is ruled by “numbers game”. Aquino controls the majority in the upper and lower houses of Congress.

In July, militant lawmakers endorsed the three impeachment complaints that were filed against Aquino in the House of Representatives.

Aquino complained then that his detractors were filing the complaints against him without merit because they were only after his ouster.

The militant congressmen behind the three impeachment complaints were Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Nation First; Fernando Hicap of Children of Sweat; Terry Ridon of Youth Group; Antonio Tinio of Alliance of Concerned Teachers; and Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela, a feminist group.