Corruption distrust hits Marcos, Sara in same poll

The House wants Sara’s tax records. The public wants answers from both.

The numbers came out quiet, but they hit hard.

The Data Point Nobody Wanted

Pulse Asia’s latest survey shows corruption as a major national concern that is weighing on public sentiment toward both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. Not incompetence. Not policy disagreements. Corruption — the word Filipinos have learned to say with a shrug and a sigh, the thing we half-expect but still resent when confirmed.

The poll doesn’t specify percentages in the headlines, but the broader March 2026 Pulse Asia release does show Marcos with a 44% distrust rating and Sara with a 26% distrust rating, while 47% of Filipinos also identified fighting graft and corruption in government as an urgent national concern. For the first time in recent memory, the country’s top two officials are bleeding trust under the same cloud. And it’s not abstract. It’s the kind of distrust that settles in when people see patterns they recognize — money that moves in the dark, questions that don’t get answered, records that suddenly become hard to find.

When Suspicion Becomes Subpoena

That’s where the House comes in. Around the same period as the poll’s release, House prosecutors moved to seek Vice President Sara Duterte’s SALN, income tax returns, and business records as part of the impeachment proceedings. Not a polite request. A legal push for documents.

This level of scrutiny is unusual, particularly involving a sitting vice president’s financial records — partly out of respect for the office, partly because going after a VP’s money trail has always felt like lighting a match near gasoline. But the House, now dominated by allies of the President, has decided the risk is worth it. Which raises the question: is this accountability, or is this the Marcos camp distancing itself from a once-loyal ally whose poll numbers are dragging them both down?

Sara’s camp has not yet publicly committed to turning over the documents if compelled. She may be required to comply if a valid subpoena or legal order is issued, subject to constitutional and legal challenges. But laws and political reality don’t always meet at the same address.

What This Means If You Voted for Either of Them

If you voted for Marcos hoping the name would bring stability, or for Sara thinking the Duterte brand meant discipline, this poll is telling you something uncomfortable: the public is losing faith in both. Not because of what they promised and didn’t deliver — but because of what they’re suspected of doing behind closed doors.

For OFWs watching from abroad, this is the kind of news that makes you wonder what’s happening to the remittances you send home, the taxes you pay, the government that’s supposed to be building the country you left behind. Kung tutuusin, you’re funding the system. You have every right to ask where the money goes. The national administration’s only majority approval issue in the same March 2026 Pulse Asia release was protecting OFW welfare, at 53%.

For those still here, the stakes are more immediate. Corruption isn’t just a headline — it’s the reason your business permit takes six months, why the road in your barangay never gets paved, why the hospital runs out of medicine but the officials’ cars never run out of gas. When the two highest leaders in the land are both mistrusted under the same shadow, it’s not a scandal. It’s a system.

Editor’s Take

This poll should be a wake-up call, but it probably won’t be. Marcos and Sara have spent months in a cold political war — him quietly sidelining her, her loudly daring anyone to come after her. Now the House has escalated the pressure, and the public has called both of theirs. The real test isn’t whether Sara hands over her SALN. It’s whether either of them understands that Filipinos are tired of choosing between two versions of the same old story. Trust, once lost, doesn’t come back with a press release.

Sources
Corruption top reason for distrust in Marcos Jr., Sara – poll — Philippine Star
Corruption issues hound Marcos, Duterte in Pulse Asia poll — Inquirer
House subpoenas Sara’s SALN, tax records — Philippine Star
March 2026 Ulat ng Bayan survey on ratings and urgent national concerns — Pulse Asia Research
VP bank accounts may be examined in impeach probe — Philippine Star
Sara’s response to impeach raps expected Monday — Philippine Star