Poll: 49% of Filipinos lean toward acquitting VP Sara, Escudero top-rated judge

The first wave of a weekly Pulso Intelligence tracker finds a bench the public rates mildly favourably across the board — every senator-judge sits above the neutral midpoint— but with the chamber’s majority leadership occupying the last three places, and acquittal sentiment leading conviction by fifteen points.

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The three senators who hold the Senate's majority-bloc leadership posts occupy the bottom three places on the first Pulso Intelligence Senator-Judge Scoreboard. Senior Deputy Major Leader Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito scores 2.51 overall and ranks 19th of 21; Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri scores 2.48 and ranks 20th; Deputy Majority Leader Joel Villanueva scores 2.44 and ranks last. The minority bloc’s two leaders sit far higher — Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano is third at 2.85 and Deputy Minority Leader Imee Marcos ninth at 2.72 — giving the minority leadership an average of 2.79 against the majority leadership’s 2.48.

On the impeachment itself, the public leans clearly toward acquittal. Asked how they would rule on the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte if the decision were theirs today, 49% say not guilty and 34% say guilty, a margin of 15 points, with 17% neutral. The neutral bloc is only just large enough to matter: even if every neutral respondent broke for conviction, guilty would clear not guilty by 2 points, and 16 of the 17 neutral points would have to move for the result to reverse at all.

The bench itself is tightly compressed. Francis “Chiz” Escudero leads at 2.92 and Villanueva trails at 2.44, a spread of only 0.48 points on a 1.00–3.00 scale, and every judge sits above the 2.00 neutral midpoint. The three measures behave almost as one: fairness is the highest or joint-highest of the three for 20 of the 21 judges, and the rank orders the three measures produce are effectively identical (Spearman ρ ≥ 0.995 for every pair). Respondents are not grading fairness, performance and trust separately so much as expressing a single overall disposition toward each senator.

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KEY FIGURES

• 49% of the Filipinos would find VP Sara Duterte not guilty: 34% would convict — a 15-point margin, with 17% neutral
• 16 out of 17 neutral points would have break the conviction to reverse the result; if all 17 did, guilty would dear not guilty by just 2 points.
• Francis “Chiz” Escudero leads the bench at 2.92 overall; Joel Villanueva trails at 2.44.
• The Senate’s three majority-bloc leaders rank 19th, 20th and 21st — last on every one of the three measures.
• Majority-bloc leadership averages 2.48 against 2.79 for the minority bloc’s leaders and 2.69 for the 16 judges holding no leadership post.
• Fairness is the highest or joint-highest measure for 20 to 21 judges: a bench average of 2.71, against 2.66 for trust and 2.64 for perfomance.
• Fairness is also the least differentiated measure — a 0.39-point range against 0.53 for trust.
• Only 9 of 21 judges score above the field average of 2.67; the entire bench sits inside 0.48 points.

‍“The public isn’t grading these senators on three things. It’s grading them on one — and right now the men running the majority are at the bottom of that list.

_{— Abraham Eleazar D. Quintos, Chief Executive Officer, Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc.}

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About this report

This report presents the findings of the first wave of the Senator-Judge Scorecard and Impeachment Sentiment Tracker, a weekly Pulso Intelligence tracker of public sentiment toward the senator-judges of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, and toward the impeachment itself. It is published for the general public. The summary on this page sets out the headline results; the full findings, including each measure, the complete scorecard, and the sub-group readings, follow in the pages after it. The methodology and the firm’s independence statement appear at the end.

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How to read the figures

Unless otherwise noted, all scorecard figures are drawn from a respondent base of 1,500 Filipinos of legal age, weighted to represent regional population and demographic differences, surveyed on 15–16 August 2026. Scores are reported on a 1.00–3.00 sentiment scale, where 1.00 is wholly negative, 2.00 is neutral and 3.00 is wholly positive; the Overall score is the composite of the three measures. Because the entire bench falls inside a 0.48-point band, differences of one or two hundredths should be read as ties rather than as rankings. Impeachment-sentiment figures are shares of the same base. Figures may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

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Use and attribution

These results may be reproduced, quoted, and disseminated freely, including by news organisations, researchers, students, and the general public, provided the findings are attributed to Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc. and are not presented in a way that misstates them. The full report is available at www.pulsointelligence.com.

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About Pulso Intelligence

Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc. (“Pulso Intelligence”) is an independent public opinion and market sentiment research firm, and the research arm of Geronimo Law. It maintains a verified respondent network of more than 1.6 million panel members across all 17 regions of the Philippines, and conducts socio-political and policy polling, brand and market research, and qualitative and deliberative studies.

This survey was designed, conducted, and funded solely by Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc. No partisan group, candidate, political party, or commissioning interest influenced the survey or the reporting of its results.

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Inquiries

Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc.

c/o Geronimo Law, 610 VGP Center, Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Philippines www.pulsointelligence.com

Clarifications and requests for further detail may be sent through the contact form on the website.

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Signed,

ABRAHAM ELEAZAR D. QUINTOS

Chief Executive Officer

Pulso Intelligence Labs, Inc.

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