It seems premature for the Palace to crow about a three-step improvement in the Philippines’ ranking in the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2019, considering that our rank of 90th out of 126 nations planted us firmly within the bottom third of the pack.
Still, a presidential spokesman was elated at the news and quickly credited the improvement to the “tireless work” of the administration.
“The Duterte administration has been tirelessly working on these since Day One and we are pleased of the Philippines’ improved global rank in 2019… as a result of our initiatives,” the Palace official said in a statement.
The Palace official noted that the World Justice Project defines effective rule of law as reducing corruption, combating poverty and disease and protecting people from injustice large and small.
All of these, he added, are embodied in the administration’s five-year development plan.
Given the Palace’s effusive response to the latest rankings, it may be instructive to see how well the Philippines scored in eight of the factors considered by the survey: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice.
The Rule of Law index is a number from zero to one, with one signifying the highest possible score (strong adherence to the rule of law) and zero being the lowest (weak adherence to the rule of law). The country’s overall score of 0.47 is hardly inspiring along this scale.
In all eight factors, the Philippines managed to score higher than 0.5 in only three—constraints on government powers (0.53), open government (0.53) and order and security (0.57) It had lower scores in absence of corruption (0.47), fundamental rights (0.42), regulatory enforcement (0.47), and civil justice (0.44). It scored miserably in criminal justice (0.31).
Significantly, this last factor measures the effectiveness of the criminal investigation and adjudication system, the correctional system, the impartiality of the justice system, the absence of corruption or improper government influence in the criminal justice system, and due process of the law and rights of the accused.
Sadly, our history is rife with examples—from this and past administrations—of how the justice system has been misused to persecute political enemies and to intimidate or silence the press.
The President’s vocal disdain for human rights is also clearly reflected in the survey results.
Ranked by the criminal justice factor alone, the Philippines falls to No. 113 of 126, a truly dismal showing.
Finally, before the Palace breaks out the champagne, it ought to consider that in East Asia and the Pacific, we are near the bottom, at 13th out of 15, better only than Myanmar and Cambodia.
Celebrating a rank of 90 out of 126 countries when it comes to adhering to the rule of law sets the bar much too low. We can and should do better.