Filipinos are divided on whether there were irregularities in the spending of confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) from 2022 to 2023, with 43.3% saying irregularities occurred and 39% saying they did not, according to the August 2026 issue of The National Momentum Survey.

The non-commissioned survey, conducted from August 18 to 23, comes as the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte continues in the Senate, with the prosecution concluding its presentation of evidence on the disbursement and auditing of the P612.5 million in confidential funds.

Filipinos were specifically asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed, based on the evidence presented by the prosecution and defense in the impeachment trial, that the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd were irregularly liquidated.

Roughly 8.1% strongly agree and 35.2% agree, compared with the 32.9% who disagree and 6.1% who strongly disagree. Beyond the split, 12.9% remain uncertain about whether irregularities occurred, while 4.8% declined to answer.

Filipinos who believe the confidential funds were improperly spent were also asked whether or not the act constituted a betrayal of public trust. Of the 43.3%, nearly 4 in 5 (78.9%) consider the alleged misuse a betrayal of public trust.

While the share of Filipinos who believe irregularities exist is slightly higher than those who don’t, the difference is not significant enough to say there are more, especially when there is a 2.5 percentage point margin of error.

The findings demonstrate that Filipinos have yet to reach a consensus on whether the evidence presented during the impeachment trial proves irregularities in the spending of confidential funds by the OVP and DepEd.

This is also consistent with a separate finding where nearly half of Filipino adults (47.9%) believe it is still too early to determine whether the impeachment court should convict or acquit the vice president.

Mindanao, Pro-Duterte more likely to oppose existence of irregular spending

Regionally, views on whether there were irregularities in the OVP and DepEd confidential funds are relatively similar.

In the Rest of Luzon, 50.1% are convinced there were irregularities, compared with 29.7% who believe the evidence presented during the impeachment trial still do not prove the allegations of confidential fund misuse.

Meanwhile, in Metro Manila, 45.6% agree and 44.2% disagree. Conversely, in Visayas, those who disagree there were irregularities, at 46%, narrowly outnumber those who agree at
42.1%

Mindanao stands out as the exception, considering it is Duterte’s political stronghold. In this region, nearly half or 48.4% oppose the view that there were irregularities in the OVP and

DepEd’s use of confidential funds, while only 29.6% agree there were irregularities.

Across factions, Pro-Duterte respondents are also more likely to reject (58.2%) the existence of irregularities, while Pro-Marcos (53.5%) and Pro-Opposition respondents (61.5%) are more inclined to agree.

Independents are more divided, with 47.5% agreeing and 33.9% disagreeing.

Gen Zs more inclined to believe irregularities occurred

When looking at the generational breakdown, Gen Z is the only generation with a clear opinion on whether there were any irregularities in the way the OVP and DepEd spent their

confidential funds. Of this group, 51.9% are convinced that irregularities occurred, which is roughly 20 percentage points higher than the 31.1% who disagree.

Millennials, on the other hand, lean in the opposite direction, with 38.9% agreeing and 47.5% disagreeing. Gen X respondents are essentially split, with 41.8% agreeing and 40.7%

disagreeing; whereas Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are clearly less settled in theircassessment. Only 36.6% of them agree there were irregularities, while 33.4% disagree.

Conducted from August 18 to 23, 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 (North, South, and Central Luzon), ±5.8% for Visayas, and ±5.5% for Mindanao — all at a 95% confidence level.

Find the complete survey results on our public dashboard at momentumresearch.ph.