MANILA, Philippines — Nearly two-thirds of Filipino voters consider the time and public resources devoted to Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial an unreasonable use of government funds, even as more respondents expect her to be convicted, a Pahayag survey showed.
The survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. from Oct. 1 to 4 found that 63 percent of registered voters viewed the resources spent on the proceedings as an unreasonable use of public funds.
Despite these concerns, public interest in the trial remained high, with 65 percent of the respondents closely following the proceedings.
The survey also found that 44 percent expected Duterte to be convicted, 31 percent anticipated her acquittal while 25 percent were undecided or unable to say what the outcome would be.
On the prosecution’s evidence, 44 to 46 percent of respondents considered the material presented so far sufficient to support the allegations against Duterte, while 38 to 40 percent believed additional evidence was needed.
Support for the sufficiency of the evidence was stronger in the National Capital Region, where about six in 10 respondents held that view. In Mindanao, approximately six in 10 believed more evidence was necessary.
Respondents were also divided on testimony by Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte concerning government contracts awarded to GenCorp Industries Inc. and the alleged conflict of interest involving the vice president.
When asked how they would vote as senator-judges based on the evidence available, about four in 10 respondents said they would vote to convict Duterte on all allegations. Three in 10 said they would vote to acquit, while another three in 10 would abstain or remain undecided.
The survey found that 52 percent supported the Senate Impeachment Court’s decision to calculate the two-thirds voting requirement based on senators legally and factually able to participate, rather than automatically applying the threshold to all 24 senators.
On the conduct of the proceedings, 66 percent said senator-judges should wait for the defense to present its case before making a final decision.
However, 57 percent believed some senator-judges might change their positions as additional evidence and arguments were presented, while 54 percent believed some judges might already be inclined to convict Duterte before the defense completed its presentation.
Views were divided on whether the majority of senator-judges had treated Duterte fairly, with 44 percent saying she had been treated fairly and 41 percent saying she had been treated unfairly.
Asked about the performance of the senator-judges collectively, 46 percent rated it poor or very poor, while 38 percent considered it satisfactory.
Senate President Francis Escudero, who presides over the impeachment court, received a more favorable assessment, with 54 percent expressing satisfaction with his performance.
The survey, designated PQ3-2026, covered 1,581 registered Filipino voters selected from the online research panel of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with global operations and a regional office in Singapore.
PUBLiCUS Asia said the survey used a nationwide purposive sampling method and reported a national margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
