51% of Pinoys want Sara Duterte to testify in impeachment trial — poll
MANILA, Philippines — At least 51% of Filipino adults want Vice President Sara Duterte to appear before the Senate impeachment court to personally testify in the trial, according to the latest report by public opinion polling firm Pulse Asia Research Inc.
Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey results, which were released on Wednesday, October 14, indicate that a narrow majority of respondents said they want to hear Duterte’s personal testimony in the impeachment trial against her.
Only 34% said Duterte should not personally appear and testify before the Senate impeachment court, while 14% were undecided and 1% refused to answer.
The survey was conducted from September 17 to 24 through face-to-face interviews with 2,400 Filipino adults aged 18 and older. It has a ±2% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.
Opinions vary across regions
Opinions on Duterte’s personal testimony differ by region, with the majority of respondents in Luzon reflecting the national survey results, while the majority of respondents from Visayas and Mindanao expressed otherwise.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), 66% said they want the vice president’s personal testimony, while 21% said the opposite. At least 61% of respondents in Balance Luzon, meanwhile, said they believe Duterte should personally testify, while 20% said she should not.
In Visayas, only 43% of respondents said Duterte should personally appear before the Senate impeachment court, while an equal share expressed the opposite view, 11% remained undecided, and 2% refused to answer.
Meanwhile, the contrasting view is more prevalent in Duterte’s stronghold of Mindanao, as only 32% said they preferred the vice president’s personal testimony, while 61% said she should not. Only 7% said they “can’t say,” while no one refused to answer.
Unexplained wealth
The survey also found that the number of people who believed that the unexplained wealth allegations against the vice president were likely to be true had increased in September.
Compared with July's 27% record, 29% of respondents in September said they believed the unexplained wealth allegations could be true, reflecting a 2-percentage-point increase.
The number of people who believed that the accusations were likely to be untrue, meanwhile, decreased by 8 percentage points, from 38% in July to 30% in September.
The number of those who could not say whether the allegations were true or untrue, meanwhile, also climbed from 32% in July to 39% in September, showing a 7-percentage-point increase.
In July, Duterte appeared on the premises of the Senate but did not attend the trial and met with her counselors instead.
The Senate impeachment rules allow the vice president to appear either personally or through counsel before the Senate impeachment court.
Recently, the prosecutors dropped three impeachment charges against Duterte, keeping only the alleged unexplained wealth charge.
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