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Renalyn Ramirez - Philstar.com
July 24, 2026 | 6:14pm
The Senate impeachment court opens oral arguments on requests to subpoena the financial records of Vice President Sara Duterte on July 15, 2026.
Senate Social Media Unit / Wendell Alinea
MANILA, Philippines — A newly established public opinion research firm found that while 68% of Filipinos are aware of the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, only 13%, or one in every 10 individuals, are actively monitoring it.
A majority of the respondents, or 55%, said they only hear developments about the proceedings but do not actively follow them, 29% said they do not monitor them at all, while 3% did not answer.
About 32% of them described the trial as confusing, and 8% said it was too technical and hard to follow.
Fifteen percent said the trial is clear but that some parts are complicated. Only 7% described it as "clear and easy to follow" in totality. The majority, or 34%, said they did not monitor the impeachment trial's first week.
Momentum Research founder Cleve Arguelles linked the confusion to the frequent use of legal jargon and the technical arguments of prosecutors, defense counsel and senator-judges during the first week of the impeachment trial.
"What the survey data tells us is that the public may be aware that the trial is happening, but the proceedings haven’t yet broken through in a way that feels meaningful or legible to the average Filipino," Arguelles said.
Trust, fairness in Senate impeachment court
The survey also gauged whether Filipinos trust the Senate impeachment court and found that 36.6% of respondents trust that the institution will be fair and neutral in the impeachment trial, while 12.2% said they are extremely trusting.
Those who expressed distrust account for 35.5% of respondents, while 6.8% are extremely distrustful. Around 6.2% are unsure, while 2.8% declined to answer.
In terms of fairness, 37.5% said the Senate impeachment court has been fair during its first week, while 31.2% said otherwise.
VP on trial
Meanwhile, the study also found that a majority of Filipinos want Duterte to appear personally at her trial.
According to the survey, 44.3% of respondents considered the vice president's appearance extremely important, 39% said it is important, and only 10.6% said the opposite.
Arguelles noted that public opinion on the trial is "still in motion," as Filipinos are forming their views as the trial progresses.
"But the trial is only weeks old. Public opinion at this stage is more of a snapshot than a verdict, and it’s still likely to move as the evidence does," he added.
Momentum Research interviewed 1,438 Filipinos nationwide from July 13 to 16, a week after the opening of the Senate impeachment court, for the first issue of its National Momentum Survey.
The survey, which has a ±2.6% national margin of error at the 95% confidence level, generally found that Filipinos' awareness of the trial does not translate into active engagement with it.
