Are the senators afraid of a President Sara D.?

The speculation is that the Senate under Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano degraded itself to the point its reputation has sunk to a historic low because of one thing – it does not want to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, who has been impeached by 257 congressmen for culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes.

Per her impeachment articles, Sara is abusive, corrupt and misused public funds. She has billions of unexplained wealth. She threatened to kill the President, the First Lady and the former speaker by hiring assassins to do it.

They say the Senate does not want to convict Sara allegedly because she is sure to be the next president in 2028. And like Donald Trump, President Sara will inflict revenge on those who had maligned her, did not support her or those who wanted her ousted as Vice President. That includes the senators. The honorable senators are afred na afred of her.

What a ridiculous attitude. Senators afraid of Sara. These are senators some of whom could be classified as hardened criminals or recidivists for repeatedly looting our tax money, repeatedly killing our countrymen in planned, vicious mass murder of civilians and repeatedly showing their stupidity and lack of love of country.

But is Sara really a cinch for the presidency in 2028? Some surveys say so. The surveys were conducted before the House impeached her on May 11, 2026 and before the senators made a fool of themselves during the week of May 11-14, 2026 and the week after that.

In the Pulse Asia survey of Feb. 27-March 2, 2026, if the elections were held then, Sara, a declared candidate for 2028, would get 51 percent of the vote, while Leni Robredo, a non-candidate, would get only 43 percent, a margin of eight percentage points. If you are a frontrunner this early, two years before the May 2028 presidential polls, and you have a winning margin of only eight percentage points, you are a doubtful starter.

Eight points are very easy to wipe out – equivalent to just four million votes in a 50-million voter turnout. A machine vote count could easily wipe two million votes. An effective campaign, given a fight between good (anybody but Sara) and evil (Sara), would erase another two million votes.

In December 2014, barely two years before the May 2016 presidential election, nobody had heard of Rodrigo Duterte as a presidential candidate. In March 2015, after he entered the presidential race, 14 months before the election, Digong had a voter preference of just 12 percent. Yet, the alleged criminal against humanity won handily on May 9, 2016, by 18 percentage points against Grace Poe, 16.6 million votes vs, 9.1 million.

Besides, the February-March 2026 Pulse Asia survey showing Sara an apparent clear winner in 2028 is flawed for three reasons. One, it did not reckon with the massive House impeachment vote of 257 congressmen representing 82 percent of all congressmen or 82 percent of the consolidated mandate of people’s representatives. Two, it has a very high margin of error, 5.7 percent. A high error margin of 5.7 percent means you can deduct 5.7 from Sara’s 51 percent and you get a voting preference of below majority, 45.3 percent – making Robredo’s 43 percent very competitive. Three, the February-March Pulse Asia survey has not reflected the May 11-14 and May 25-28 despicable drama in the Senate which angered the nation and ruined the reputation of majority of our already below average-quality senators.

Another flawed but updated survey is Octa Research’s finding 74 percent of adult Filipinos wanting a Senate impeachment trial for VP Duterte, with 21 percent No and four percent Don’t Know. The Octa poll has a very high margin of error in many places – 10 to 13 percent in the Visayas, a Sara bailiwick, and 13 to 18 percent in Mindanao, another Sara bailiwick, where her popularity is as high as 97 percent.

In my Stats class in college and in the MBA, a margin of error of three-and-above percent is unreliable. Garbage. It could mean the number of Filipinos who want Sara to be tried by the Senate is actually much higher than 74 percent; it could be 77 percent or as high as 92 percent (74 plus 18) in Mindanao. A high margin of error could mean people were afraid to talk to the pollsters: remember, this is a survey about a family of alleged mass killers. They are no joke, no joke, when it comes to killing people.

Meanwhile, on May 14, 2026, the country’s biggest business and civic organizations led by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and including the Catholic Church want the Senate to proceed, forthwith, with the impeachment trial of Sara. They told our honorable senators:

“At this critical moment, we urge the Senate leadership and all senators to uphold their sworn duty to the Constitution by:

“1. Convening the Impeachment Court without delay;

“2. Ensuring a fair and credible trial;

“3. Hearing the evidence of both sides and

“4. Rendering judgment solely on the basis of the Constitution, the law and the evidence.

“The legitimacy of democratic institutions rests on their consistent fidelity to constitutional mandates, especially under conditions of political pressure. We call on our senators to exercise their mandate with honor, integrity and unwavering regard for their oath of office.”

In another joint statement, on May 25, 2026, business groups led by the Makati Business Club, in so many words, told the senators to behave, reform themselves, do their constitutional duty, imploring:

“At this important moment, we encourage senators to remain guided by the Constitution, uphold institutional responsibility and keep the broader national interest at the center of the process.

“Will you prioritize long-term democratic stability over short-term political survival? History will judge you by your actions during this critical period.”

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