Close to three out of four Filipinos want Chief Justice Renato Corona convicted in the impeachment court, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll.
If found guilty, Corona will be removed from the judiciary and will be disqualified from public office.
Citing their a survey held from March 10 to 13, SWS said 73 percent of 1,200 respondents wants the Senate to render a guilty verdict against the embattled Chief Justice. A quarter of respondents meanwhile said they preferred acquittal for the Chief Justice.
Despite that, more than half, 67 percent, said they would accept whatever verdict the Senate impeachment court would hand down. Most respondents in the National Capital Region, 79 percent, said they would accept the verdict against only 56 percent of respondents from the Visayas who would.
Around 79 percent of respondents also said they want Corona to resign but were divided on when he should do that. Close to half of those surveyed, 49 percent, said Corona should wait for acquittal before resigning while 30 percent said he should leave as soon as possible. Another 18 percent said the Chief Justice should only resign if found guilty.
Respondents meanwhile gave higher score to the prosecution than Corona's defense panel, with a net satisfaction rating of +39 satisfaction rating. The defense had a +31 net satisfaction rating.
The impeachment trial was on recess and the defense only began presenting its evidence at the time of the poll.
The Senate did not fare much better among respondents, however. Only 30 percent of those surveyed said they had "much trust" in the Senate sitting as an impeachment court, with 51 percent unsure whether the Senate will make a fair decision.
The survey has an error margin of 3 percent for national estimates.
"The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2012 to obtain the national estimates," SWS said.
