Vice President Sara Duterte —Grig C. Montegrande/Philippine Daily Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Four out of 10 Filipinos support the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, according to a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in partnership with Stratbase Group.
Conducted between Dec. 12, 2024 and Dec. 18, 2024, the survey showed that 41 percent of Filipinos support the Vice President’s impeachment, while 35 percent disagree and 19 percent are undecided. The rest, 5 percent, said they “don’t know enough” about the issue.
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According to the survey results, the call for Duterte’s impeachment resonated most strongly in Luzon outside of Metro Manila, with 50 percent advocating for her removal and 25 percent disagreeing with it. Only 18 percent were undecided while 7 percent were not informed enough.
Most opposed region
This was followed by Metro Manila, with 45 percent agreeing to the call for impeachment. A close 37 percent disagreed and only 14 percent said they were undecided. The remaining 4 percent said they did not know enough.
Mindanao showed the most opposition, with 56 percent opposing it and 22 percent advocating for it. The region had an undecided rate of 18 percent and 4 percent uninformed.
The Visayas had the highest percentage of undecided respondents at 24 percent, in contrast to 40 percent who agreed, 33 percent who disagreed and 4 percent who did not know enough.
Among socio-economic classes, support for the impeachment was strongest among Classes ABC, with 50 percent agreeing, 34 percent disagreeing and 14 percent undecided.
Opposition to the impeachment was strongest in Class E, with a disagreement rate of 36 percent; however, the agreement rate in this sector was 37 percent, while the undecided rate was 20 percent.
Refusal to answer
Across sectors, 2 percent of Class ABC, 5 percent of Class D and 7 percent of Class E said they lacked knowledge about the issue.
The survey results also showed that 46 percent of Filipinos believe the unexplained spending of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education may be the best basis for Duterte’s impeachment.
Her refusal to answer investigations into these funds was also a concern for 36 percent of Filipinos.
Accusations of ill-gotten wealth that could not be explained in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), and threats to the lives of prominent figures, including President Marcos, also ranked highly with 25 percent and 24 percent of Filipinos, respectively, believing them to be possible bases for her impeachment.
Other issues
Other allegations include Duterte’s involvement in extrajudicial killings during her tenure as Davao City mayor (23 percent), her failure to condemn China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea (13 percent), her display of lack of self-control (12 percent), her trip to Germany during the onslaught of Typhoon “Carina” (11 percent), and ordering her subordinates to prepare accomplishment reports on the distribution of confidential and intelligence funds, supported by fabricated receipts and documents (11 percent).
Around 17 percent of Filipinos stated that none of the mentioned allegations may be the basis for her impeachment.
The survey involved 2,160 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.