Nearly two-thirds of Filipino adults believe Vice President Sara Duterte should return the P73 million disallowed confidential funds to the national coffers, according to the August 2026 issue of The National Momentum Survey.
The non-commissioned survey, conducted during the prosecution’s presentation of evidence on the alleged confidential fund misuse, found that 64% of Filipino adults agree or strongly agree with the Commission on Audit (COA) order requiring the vice president to return the P73 million in disallowed funds.
Only about a quarter (24%) disagree or strongly disagree, while another 8.9% are unsure and 3.1% refuse to answer.
The order stems from the Commission Proper’s final decision upholding the notice of disallowance issued to the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
According to the decision, the OVP had failed to submit sufficient documents proving how the flagged funds were spent and if they were spent on confidential activities as required by Joint Circular 2015-01.
A state auditor also testified before the impeachment trial that the order is final and may only be stopped by a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court.
While Filipinos remain divided on whether trial evidence and testimony already prove irregular spending by the OVP and Department of Education (DepEd), there is broader agreement that the P73 million specifically disallowed by COA should be returned.
Mindanao, Pro-Duterte more likely to support restitution
Agreement among Filipino adults is also high across regions, except in Mindanao where less than a majority support the COA order requiring the vice president to return P73 million.
However, even in Duterte’s political stronghold, more Filipinos still prefer that she return the disallowed funds (46.7%), compared with the 36.6% who disagree. A portion of Mindanao also appears to be undecided on where they stand on the issue, with 16.7% Filipino adults in the region having no response. This level of indecision is stronger than in other regions like Rest of Luzon (13.7%), Metro Manila (7.5%), and Visayas (5.2%).
Meanwhile, calls for restitution are strongest in the Visayas, with 73.5% agreeing with the COA order, followed by 68.7% in the Rest of Luzon and 64.3% in Metro Manila.
Similar to the regional findings, only one of the four partisan groups measured in the survey failed to reach a consensus on whether they believe the vice president should return the P73 million disallowed confidential funds.
Falling short of a clear majority, roughly 50.5% of Pro-Duterte Filipinos agree with the COA order, while 39.3% disagree. In contrast, most Pro-Opposition Filipinos (82.3%) want the vice president to return the disallowed funds. This is followed by Pro-Marcos Filipinos (73%) and Independents (68.4%).
Support for restitution highest among Gen Z, Millennials
Differing views are also noticeable across generations, with the strongest support for returning the disallowed funds coming from younger Filipinos, particularly Gen Z.
Almost 4 in 5 Gen Zs believe the vice president should comply with the COA order, while 3 in 5 Millennials share the same view. Majority support can also be found among Gen X Filipinos (56.1%), while Baby Boomers and the Silent Gen do not show a clear majority in support (52.7%) considering the margin of error.
More than a quarter of Millennials (29.4%), however, also disagree that the vice president should return the disallowed funds. It is the highest share across generations, but only because there are more undecided Filipinos among Gen X (15.7%), Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation (24.7%).
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.
