Most Filipinos want VP Sara to return PHP 73 million – survey

MANILA – Nearly two-thirds of Filipino adults believe Vice President Sara Duterte should return PHP 73 million in disallowed confidential funds to the national coffers, according to the August 2026 issue of The National Momentum Survey.

The non-commissioned survey found that 64% of Filipino adults agree or strongly agree with the Commission on Audit (COA) order requiring the vice president to return the disallowed amount.

Broken down, 50.4% agree and 13.6% strongly agree.

Only about a quarter, or 24%, disagree or strongly disagree: 19.3% disagree and 4.7% strongly disagree.

Another 8.9% are unsure, while 3.1% refused to answer.

Momentum Research conducted the poll while the prosecution presented evidence of alleged confidential fund misuse.

The order stems from the Commission Proper’s final decision upholding the notice of disallowance issued to the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

According to the decision, the OVP had failed to submit sufficient documents proving how the flagged funds were spent and if they were spent on confidential activities as required by Joint Circular 2015-01.

A state auditor also testified before the impeachment trial that the order is final and may only be stopped by a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court.

Filipinos remain divided, however, on whether trial evidence and testimony already prove irregular spending by the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) from 2022 to 2023.

Asked to weigh the evidence of the prosecution and the defense, 35.2% of respondents agree and 8.1% strongly agree that irregularities occurred in the spending of the confidential and intelligence funds of the two offices.

In contrast, 32.9% disagree with that proposition, while 12.9% said they do not know or are not sure.

Agreement with the COA order is high across regions, except in Mindanao, where less than a majority support the directive requiring the vice president to return PHP 73 million.

Even in Duterte’s political stronghold, more Filipinos still prefer that she return the disallowed funds, at 46.7%, compared with the 36.6% who disagree.

Mindanao also posted the largest share of respondents without a position on the issue at 16.7%, higher than the Rest of Luzon at 13.7%, Metro Manila at 7.5%, and the Visayas at 5.2%.

Calls for restitution are strongest in the Visayas, where 73.5% agree with the COA order, followed by the Rest of Luzon at 68.7% and Metro Manila at 64.3%.

Regional breakdowns show 59.3% of Visayans agreeing and 14.2% strongly agreeing, with 12.4% disagreeing and 8.8% strongly disagreeing.

In the Rest of Luzon, 54.3% agree and 14.4% strongly agree, while 14.1% disagree and 3.5% strongly disagree.

In Metro Manila, 46.6% agree and 17.7% strongly agree, while 27.3% disagree and 0.9% strongly disagree.

In Mindanao, 37.4% agree and 9.3% strongly agree, while 30.6% disagree and 6.0% strongly disagree.

Only one of the four partisan groups measured in the survey failed to reach a consensus on whether the vice president should return the disallowed funds.

Falling short of a clear majority, roughly 50.5% of Pro-Duterte Filipinos agree with the COA order, while 39.3% disagree.

Within that group, 41.7% agree and 8.8% strongly agree, while 32.7% disagree and 6.7% strongly disagree.

Most Pro-Opposition Filipinos, at 82.3%, want the vice president to return the disallowed funds, composed of 49.7% who agree and 32.7% who strongly agree.

Pro-Marcos Filipinos follow at 73%, with 53.6% agreeing and 19.4% strongly agreeing, while Independents register 68.4%, made up of 56.8% who agree and 11.7% who strongly agree.

Support for restitution is highest among younger Filipinos, particularly Gen Z.

Almost four in five Gen Z respondents believe the vice president should comply with the COA order, with 65.1% agreeing and 12.9% strongly agreeing.

Three in five Millennials share the same view, with 46.7% agreeing and 13.6% strongly agreeing.

Majority support is also found among Gen X Filipinos at 56.1%, while Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation do not show a clear majority in support at 52.7%, considering the margin of error.

More than a quarter of Millennials, or 29.4%, disagree that the vice president should return the disallowed funds, the highest share across generations.

That share is the highest only because there are more undecided Filipinos among Gen X at 15.7% and among Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation at 24.7%.

Conducted from August 18 to 23, 2026, the National Momentum Survey was carried out through face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,487 Filipino adults.

It has a national margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Subnational margins of error are ±6.9% for the National Capital Region, ±3.8% for the Rest of Luzon covering North, South, and Central Luzon, ±5.8% for the Visayas, and ±5.5% for Mindanao, all at a 95% confidence level.

The National Momentum Survey is the flagship initiative of Momentum Research, a nonpartisan public opinion research firm.

Its August 2026 issue covers government performance, the impeachment trial, 2028 National Elections voting intentions, and national issues, including Pax Silica, systems loss, the minimum wage, the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, and school-related violence.