52% of Filipinos reject absent senators voting in Duterte trial

MANILA — Slightly more than half of Filipino adults believe senator-judges who are detained, on medical leave, or evading arrest should not be allowed to participate or vote in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, according to the October 2026 National Momentum Survey.

The non-commissioned survey by Momentum Research, conducted Oct. 16 to 19, asked Filipino adults nationwide which reasons they consider acceptable for an absent senator-judge to still take part in the trial.

Respondents could choose more than one of three listed reasons — detention, medical leave, or hiding from arrest — or say that none of them is acceptable.

The survey found that 52.3% do not consider any of the three reasons acceptable grounds for an absent senator-judge to cast a vote in the trial.

About 31.8% said a currently detained senator-judge should still be allowed to participate. Another 20.4% said a senator-judge on medical leave should be allowed to take part.

Hiding to evade arrest was the least accepted reason, at 15.6%.

The rest did not give an opinion, with 6.4% saying they did not know or were unsure and 1.9% refusing to answer.

Table 1. National results

Momentum Research said the eligibility of senator-judges became a major issue because only 20 senators are considered present in the proceedings, while the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of all senators to convict an impeachable official.

Those absent include Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, whose whereabouts are unknown as he faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta are both detained, while Sen. Loren Legarda is on medical leave abroad.

The Senate impeachment court voted 13-1, with six senator-judges not participating, to exclude absent senator-judges from the vote count.

The exclusion covers those who are detained, suspended, on medical leave, or who refuse to attend proceedings for other reasons such as evading arrest.

By region

Majorities in Metro Manila (65.4%), Visayas (60.4%), and the rest of Luzon (56.2%) said none of the listed reasons should allow an absent senator-judge to participate.

Mindanao departed from that view, with 37.1% saying detained senator-judges should still be allowed to vote.

That is about 6 percentage points more than the 30.5% of Mindanao respondents who said none of the reasons is acceptable.

Table 2. Results by region (in percent)

By faction

By political affiliation, majorities of those who identify as pro-opposition (74.5%), pro-Marcos (63.2%), and independent (57.3%) said none of the listed reasons is a ground for allowing an absent senator-judge to participate.

Momentum Research defines pro-opposition adults as those who align themselves with former Vice President Leni Robredo, Sen. Bam Aquino, and Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Only pro-Duterte adults differed, with 48.7% saying detained senator-judges should still be allowed to vote, against 35.5% who said none of the reasons is acceptable.

Table 3. Results by faction (in percent)

By generation

Across generations, Gen Z (60.4%), Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation (56.1%), and Gen X (50.1%) said none of the listed reasons justifies allowing an absent senator-judge to vote.

Millennials were more divided, with 44.7% saying none of the reasons is acceptable and 43.1% saying detention is an acceptable reason.

Figure 4. Must absent senators be allowed to participate in trial, by generation (Momentum Research)

Table 4. Results by generation (in percent)

The National Momentum Survey was conducted through face-to-face, computer-assisted personal interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,401 Filipino adults.

It has a national margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Subnational margins of error are plus or minus 7.0% for the National Capital Region, 3.8% for the rest of Luzon, 6.1% for Visayas, and 5.8% for Mindanao, all at a 95% confidence level.

The “do not know” and “refused” options were not read out to respondents, according to the survey topline.

The October 2026 survey also covered government performance, the International Criminal Court trial, 2028 voting intentions, and national issues including overseas Filipino worker rights, the anti-political dynasty measure, and trust in media platforms.

Momentum Research describes itself as a nonpartisan public opinion research firm, and the complete results are posted on its public dashboard at momentumresearch.ph.