6 out of 10 Filipinos believe Rodrigo Duterte should stand trial at ICC—survey
Over half of Filipinos believe former president Rodrigo Duterte should stand trial at the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity, a nationwide survey revealed.
The poll, conducted by WR Numero Philippine Public Opinion Monitor from March 10 to 17, 2026, before The Hague tribunal rejected Duterte's appeal on jurisdiction on April 22.
It found that 59.5% of Filipinos wish to see Duterte face trial for charges filed against him at the ICC. Slightly lower, 43% want the former president to remain detained in The Hague to personally be held accountable.
On the other end, 24.5% of the respondents believe Duterte doesn't need to face the court for his alleged crimes, while 34% assert the ICC should release him from custody. Over one-third of the respondents had no clear stand on whether Duterte should stay in detention at The Hague.
Regardless of where Duterte would face the charges against him, 51% of the respondents want him to be held responsible for the extrajudicial killings that took place during his alleged war on drugs. However, 29% disagree.
As to Duterte's alleged co-perpetrators, over half of the respondents, at 56%, believe it is important to arrest and detain them, while 22% think arresting them is unnecessary. The ICC named Sen. Bato dela Rosa, who hasn't attended Senate sessions since November 2025, Bong Go, and former NCRPO regional director and police chief Oscar Albayalde as co-perpetrators.
The respondents' views on the ICC were also covered in the survey. About a third, or 35% of the participants, trust the ICC to be fair in processing Duterte's charges. Another third believe the ICC is not trustworthy enough to handle the former president's legal proceedings, while the rest of the respondents remained unsure about the ICC's ability to hold a clean trial.
WR Numero Philippine Public Opinion Monitor conducted the survey through face-to-face interviews of 1,455 Filipinos residing in the Philippines. Researchers placed the margin of error generally at ±3% margin of error. Regionally, the margin of error for the National Capital Region was at ±7%, at ±4% for the rest of Luzon, ±6% for Visayas, and ±6% for Mindanao.
The survey had a 95% confidence level for all respondents.
In statistics, a margin of error is the maximum expected difference between results gathered from a true population and a group of survey respondents.
Confidence level is a market research term that refers to the amount of certainty researchers have that the public can trust the survey results.
Duterte has been at the ICC since March 12 last year.
He was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on March 11 following a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC via the International Criminal Police Organization.
He has been accused of being an "indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder pursuant to Article 7 (1)(a) of the Rome Statute."
The confirmation of charges hearing for the case took place from Feb. 23 to 27.
