MANILA – The share of Filipinos who believe Vice President Sara Duterte is guilty of the impeachment charges rose from 34.3% to 36.3% between the weeks of August 10 to 16 and August 17 to 23, according to the second wave of Pulso Intelligence’s Weekly Impeachment Tracker. Over the same period, the share saying she is not guilty fell from 48.5% to 46.2%. The acquittal lead narrowed from 14.2 points to 9.9.
During the August 17 to 23 field window, witness Gina Acosta testified that confidential funds were released on the Vice President’s order and logged under aliases. In Mindanao, severe monsoon flooding was the dominant local story.
The survey, conducted by Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc. among 1,684 respondents weighted to COMELEC 2025 registered-voter benchmarks, asked respondents to rate the Vice President’s guilt on a 1 to 5 scale, where 1 to 2 is not guilty, 3 is neutral, and 4 to 5 is guilty. The question was worded identically in both waves. The mean rating rose from 2.73 to 2.79.
A plurality of Filipinos continue to say the Vice President is not guilty. The neutral share was essentially unchanged at 17.6%.
The Acosta testimony
The Wave 2 field window coincided with the testimony of witness Gina Acosta before the Senate impeachment court. Acosta testified that confidential funds, reported at ₱125 million and, in later testimony, up to ₱500 million, were released on the Vice President’s order, with disbursements logged under aliases. Prosecutors characterized the testimony as a “smoking gun.” According to Pulso Intelligence, the confidential-funds story led national news coverage throughout the field period.
Among respondents who follow the trial weekly, the guilty share rose 3.2 points week on week. Among daily followers, it rose 1.2 points. Among those who are not interested, hear about the trial only occasionally, or hear about it monthly, the increase was between 0.4 and 0.9 points.
Attention to the trial also increased during the week. The share of Filipinos who follow the trial weekly rose from 27.2% to 29.3%, and the share saying they are not interested fell from 5.6% to 4.4%. Daily following was broadly stable, moving from 20.4% to 19.8%.
Mindanao
Mindanao, the Vice President’s home region, remains the most acquittal-leaning part of the country by a wide margin. In Wave 2, 75.9% of South Mindanao respondents and 70.7% of North Mindanao respondents said the Vice President is not guilty. The guilty share in both regions is around 10%, the lowest in the survey.
Within that picture, South Mindanao recorded a 4.7-point rise in the guilty share between Wave 1 and Wave 2. This was among the larger regional movements of the week and occurred off the lowest base in the country. North Mindanao moved 0.9 points in the opposite direction. Pulso notes that severe monsoon flooding across parts of Mindanao was the dominant local news story in the region during the same period.
The largest regional swings toward guilty were in Central Luzon (+7.1 points) and Metro Manila (+5.7 points), both of which already had high guilty shares. Metro Manila is the most conviction-leaning region in the country at 58.0% guilty. Guilty sentiment eased in West Visayas (−4.0) and North Luzon (−3.8).
Who moved
Women are more likely than men to say the Vice President is guilty, at 40.6% against 31.9%. A majority of men, 50.3%, say not guilty. By age, the guilty share is highest among respondents aged 51 and over (46.0%) and those aged 18 to 30 (41.8%), and lowest among those aged 31 to 50 (31.6%), a majority of whom (52.2%) say not guilty.
About the Survey
Pulso Intelligence Weekly Impeachment Tracker, Wave 2, fielded August 17 to 23, 2026 (n = 1,684 weighted; 1,698 approved; effective n = 1,339.9; design effect 1.257), compared with Wave 1, fielded August 10 to 16, 2026, on the same instrument. Results are calibration-weighted to COMELEC 2025 registered-voter benchmarks on sex, age, and region. The guilt and trial-fairness questions used identical 1 to 5 wording in both waves. Event context is drawn from Philippine news reports, August 2026. Figures may not total 100% due to rounding.
Filipinos’ ratings of the twenty-one senator-judges, also captured in Wave 2, will be reported in a separate release.
