ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Abante: Impeachment trial has hurt VP Duterte's popularity

Abante: Impeachment trial has hurt VP Duterte's popularity

Published Aug 17, 2026 11:06 am

At A Glance

  • Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. says Vice President Sara Duterte's popularity has declined due to her ongoing Senate impeachment trial, with surveys showing strong public interest in evidence-based proceedings.
  • Recent OCTA and SWS surveys reveal Filipinos want the Senate to decide based on law and evidence, underscoring the importance of presenting and evaluating the prosecution's case.
  • Abante warns senator-judges against "political cataract" clouding their judgment, stressing that the trial is about truth, not personalities or political allegiances.
Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)
Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)


The perceived popularity of presidential aspirant Vice President Sara Duterte has taken a hit because of her ongoing Senate impeachment trial.
Impeachment complaint endorser Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. gave this take over the weekend even as the trial continues to showcase evidence against Duterte through the prosecution.
“Palagay ko nabawasan na ang rating ng ating Vice President dito (I think the Vice President’s rating has declined because of this,” Abante said.
The veteran congressman made these remarks as recent surveys showed strong public interest in having Duterte face the impeachment charges and in seeing the case decided on the evidence.
Duterte announced her intention to run for president in the 2028 elections last February, just as multiple impeachment complaints were piling on her at the House of Representatives.
But all her popularity and influence would be for naught if she gets convicted by the senator-judges, since she would get penalized with perpetual disqualification from holding public office, on top of removal from her post.
“Naniniwala ako na the (I believe that) Vice President is not as popular as before...Nakikita na ng taumbayan ang nangyayari (The people have seen what is happening). And I think that they are deciding, they are actually looking now for evidence,” Abante said.
An OCTA Research survey released this month found 55 percent of Filipinos preferred that all evidence be presented before senator-judges decide whether to convict or acquit Duterte.
An earlier OCTA survey found 71 percent believed the Senate impeachment court should base its decision on the law and evidence, while a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found 70 percent believed Duterte must address the impeachment charges to clear questions surrounding her accountability.
According to Abante, this makes the presentation and evaluation of evidence all the more crucial.
'Political cataract'
As such, he warned the senator-judges against allowing politics to cloud their judgment. “Sa akin, sinasabi ko, sana hindi maging exercise of politics ito. Dapat ito, makita na ng taong-bayan, makita ng impeachment court mismo itong ebidensya)."
(I’m saying, I hope this does not become an exercise of politics. This should be seen by the people, seen by the impeachment court itself as evidence.)
“Huwag sanang magkaroon ng blinders o ng tinatawag nating political cataract ang mga senator-judges tungkol diyan,” he added.
(I hope there will be no blinders or what we call political cataract among the senator-judges regarding that.)
Abante said the impeachment trial has boiled down to searching for the truth rather than protecting political personalities or allegiances.
“Ako eh, hindi ko tinatanong kung DDS ka o hindi ka DDS,” Abante referring to "Duterte Diehard Supporters". “Pero kinakailangan makita natin, makita ng taumbayan ang katotohanan.”
(As for me, I don’t ask if you’re DDS or not DDS...But it is necessary that we see, that the people see the truth.)
“This is no longer [about] personality eh. Katotohanan na ito eh (This is already about the truth),” he noted.

Related Tags

2028 elections Sara Duterte impeachment Bienvenido \"Benny\" Abante OCTA Research SWS
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.