Mindanao recorded the highest proportion of Filipinos who closely followed developments in the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against former President Rodrigo Duterte, while also posting the lowest net confidence that he would receive a fair trial, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Tuesday, September 15.
The Second Quarter 2026 Social Weather Survey found that 24% of respondents in Mindanao said they followed very closely the ICC proceedings involving the confirmation of crimes against humanity charges against Duterte, the highest figure among the four areas surveyed.
Despite this level of attention, Mindanao recorded a net confidence rating of only +3 on whether the ICC would conduct a fair trial.
Balance Luzon, meanwhile, had the lowest percentage of respondents who followed the case very closely at 15%, but registered the highest net confidence in a fair trial at +27.
In the National Capital Region, 22% said they followed the case very closely, while its net confidence rating stood at +17. The Visayas recorded 20% who followed the developments very closely and a net confidence rating of +9.
Nationally, 72% of Filipino adults said they had followed news about the ICC’s confirmation of charges against Duterte. This consisted of 19% who followed the developments very closely, 34% who followed them somewhat closely and 19% who followed them just a little.
Another 20% said they did not follow the news, while 8% said they only learned about the case during the survey interview.
On the question of whether Duterte would receive a fair trial, 44% of respondents said they had much confidence in the ICC, while 27% expressed little confidence and 29% remained undecided.
These figures produced a national net confidence score of +17 in June 2026, six points higher than the +11 recorded in March. However, the latest result remained below the +21 posted in September 2025 and +22 in November 2025.
The survey also found that overall awareness of the ICC case was relatively high across the country. The proportion who followed the case at any level was highest in the Visayas at 79%, followed by the National Capital Region at 77%, Mindanao at 75% and Balance Luzon at 67%.
SWS conducted the Second Quarter 2026 survey from June 20 to 29 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults aged 18 and above. The respondents were divided equally among Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, with 300 respondents from each area.
The survey has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points for national figures and ±6 percentage points for each of the four geographic areas. The survey items were conducted on SWS’ own initiative and were not commissioned.