SWS: 66% want Sara Duterte to address impeachment charges

Sixty-six percent of Filipinos have agreed that Vice President Sara Duterte should address the impeachment charges to answer all allegations of corruption against her, according to an SWS survey conducted in June and commissioned by Stratbase.

The survey, conducted from June 25 to 29 among 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, showed 19% did not agree and 15% were undecided.

Metro Manila has the highest percentage of respondents who believed that Duterte should address the impeachment case, with 76%. This was followed by Balance Luzon with 69%, the Visayas with 67%, and Mindanao with 55%.

Among socio-economic classes, Classes ABC have the highest percentage who agreed with the statement, with 73%. This was followed by Class D with 66% and Class E with 62%.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, but the Senate impeachment court voted last June 10 to return the Articles of Impeachment without dismissing or terminating the case.

The House under the 20th Congress has yet to submit the second certification concerning its willingness to prosecute.

Duterte has entered a “not guilty” plea in the verified impeachment complaint filed against her by the House of Representatives.

She denied allegations against her, which include bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust, misuse of confidential funds, contracting an assassin, and political destabilization.

Duterte had said that the names found among the supposed recipients of confidential funds in her office and during her tenure as education secretary were aliases used in intelligence operations.

She also stated that she would address the questions during the impeachment trial, as her lawyers are gathering evidence and affidavits from witnesses.

Eager to answer

Sought for comment, OVP spokesperson Ruth Castelo said Duterte is “ready and eager” to face the impeachment trial to defend herself from the allegations thrown against her. 

“The Vice President is ready, she's been saying that. And she's eager to be able to present her case or her evidence in the impeachment court so that once and for all, all doubts cast on her will go away. And that's what she wants,” Castelo said in a press conference.

“But there are legal strategies, there are legal remedies that any lawyer can take. So in this case, the lawyers of the Vice President are taking legal remedies, legal strategies that are allowable in our system. So we'll wait,” she added. –NB/AOL, GMA Integrated News