Majority of Filipinos say Sara Duterte should personally attend impeachment trial: Survey
More than four in five Filipinos believe Vice President Sara Duterte should personally appear before the Senate impeachment court, a nationwide survey revealed.
The survey, conducted by Momentum Research among 1,438 Filipino adults, showed that 44.3% of respondents consider Duterte’s personal attendance at her impeachment trial “extremely important,” while 39% said it is “important.”
Meanwhile, 10.6% of respondents said her attendance is “unimportant,” while 3% described it as “extremely unimportant.” A small portion of respondents were either unsure (2.5%) or declined to answer (0.6%).
The survey further showed that most respondents across the country’s regions believe Duterte’s personal presence at her trial is important.
Metro Manila recorded the highest share of respondents who viewed her attendance as important or extremely important at 92.3%. This was followed by respondents from the Rest of Luzon at 87.3% and the Visayas at 85.1%.
In Mindanao, where Duterte has maintained a strong political base, 68.5% of respondents still said it is important for her to personally attend the proceedings. However, this was the lowest percentage recorded among all regions.
In terms of political groups, the survey found that respondents largely shared the view that Duterte should attend her impeachment trial in person.
Among those identified as pro-opposition, 93.2% said her attendance is important, followed by pro-Marcos respondents at 88% and independent respondents at 85.4%.
Even among pro-Duterte respondents, who recorded the lowest support for her personal appearance, a majority of 75.3% still said her attendance is important.
Meanwhile, 22.5% of pro-Duterte respondents considered her attendance unimportant or extremely unimportant, the highest proportion among the groups surveyed.
The National Momentum Survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews from July 13 to 16.
The survey comes as Duterte continues to skip impeachment proceedings nearly a month after they started, with only her legal counsel appearing on her behalf.
She is facing a total of four impeachment complaints. The first complaint was filed by a coalition of various organizations on Feb. 2 but was set aside for violating the one-year bar rule. The second was filed on Feb. 9, but was withdrawn to consolidate support for the third complaint.
The third complaint, backed by ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, charged Duterte with culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, plunder or malversation, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
The fourth complaint, endorsed by House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante, similarly alleged constitutional violations, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other impeachable offenses.
If the Senate impeachment court finds her guilty of the charges, Duterte will be removed from her current post and permanently barred from holding public office.