Filipinos Want Sara Duterte to Face the Music; Even If the Senate Is Too Busy Playing Dead

A new nationwide survey has revealed that two out of three Filipinos believe Vice President Sara Duterte should finally stop ducking and start answering the impeachment charges filed against her.

Conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from June 25 to 29 and commissioned by the Stratbase Group, the survey found that 66% of respondents want Duterte to formally face the music through the impeachment process instead of relying on silence, deflection, or her infamous eyebrow raises.

A total of 1,200 adults were interviewed face-to-face across Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao—300 each—because nothing says scientific polling like equal slices of a wildly uneven pie.

The ±3% national margin of error and ±6% per region ensured enough room for Duterte’s camp to pretend it’s all just noise.

Despite Duterte’s loyal base in Mindanao, only 55% there backed her responding to the charges, dragging down her national numbers like an anchor tied to a sinking jet ski.

Meanwhile, another SWS poll conducted during the same period, but this time not commissioned by any group, showed that 59% of adult Filipinos were already aware of the impeachment case even before SWS came knocking.

In a country where daily scandals compete with teleseryes for attention, that level of awareness is essentially viral.

The awareness breakdown by region is telling: 68% in Metro Manila were tuned in, proving again that the capital is nosy as ever, while Mindanao clocked in at just 52%, a number that her supporters will no doubt cite to claim “nobody really cares.”

The survey also highlighted regional differences in actual support for impeachment, with Metro Manila leading the pack at 44% agreement, followed by Balance Luzon at 40%.

But Mindanao, ever the loyal echo chamber, posted the weakest support at 13%—which, given Duterte’s family ties there, may as well be considered betrayal.

In the Visayas, 28% wanted her held accountable, but don’t worry, it’s probably just the shrimp season talking.

Perhaps the juiciest bit? Forty-four percent of Filipinos believe the Senate is intentionally dragging its feet to delay the impeachment trial—because nothing spells “good governance” quite like political inertia wrapped in red tape.

The idea that our beloved lawmakers might be avoiding work has, shockingly, not stunned the public, but merely confirmed decades of learned skepticism.

Stratbase Group President Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit offered the most polite version of “Are you kidding me?” in his official statements.

According to Manhit, this level of public awareness signals a population that is no longer satisfied with just scrolling headlines or tuning out—Filipinos are watching, asking, and apparently, waiting for something resembling accountability.

He added that any further delays would erode what little trust remains in democratic institutions, which at this point are already hanging by a legislative thread.

Manhit also stressed that transparency and due process must be upheld—an idealistic statement in a political landscape where “due process” is often just a euphemism for “wait until people forget.”

Calls for impartiality and swift action from the Senate sound nice, but whether they lead to actual consequences or just another Senate subcommittee is anyone’s guess.

As it stands, the public has spoken—loudly, clearly, and with the weary frustration of a nation that’s seen this telenovela before.

Whether the Vice President listens, or the Senate wakes up from its legislative siesta, remains a cliffhanger we didn’t ask for but can’t stop watching.