Rule of law in PHL one of Asia’s weakest

PHILIPPINE rule of law has remained one of the weakest in East Asia and the Pacific, according to an annual survey of more than a hundred economies that showed the country’s score steadying from last year even as it rose in rank amid a generally negative slide worldwide.

The WJP Rule of Law Index 2019 — which evaluates adherence to the rule of law based on more than 120,000 household and 3,800 expert surveys in 126 countries — showed the Philippines rising three steps to 90th place, even as its score stayed 0.47 on a 0 to 1 scale on which 1 indicates strongest adherence to rule of law. The scale describes any score up to 0.50 as reflecting “weaker adherence to the rule of law.”

The Philippines actually placed 88th out of 113 countries on the 2017-2018 list.

In a press release accompanying its report, the World Justice Project (WJP) explained “that this change in ranking was calculated by comparing the positions of the 113 countries measured in the 2017-2018 edition of the index with the rankings of the same 113 countries in 2019, exclusive of 13 new countries indexed in 2019.”

The Philippines’ score places it at 13th out of 15 countries in the East Asia and the Pacific (same as in 2017-2018) and 14th out of 30 among lower middle income countries (compared to 17th/30 previously).

The top three overall performers were Denmark, Norway and Finland, while the bottom three slots were occupied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (124th), Cambodia (125th) and Venezuela (126th).

In East Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand (eighth globally), Australia (11th) and Singapore (13th) occupied first to third rungs, respectively, while the Philippines, Myanmar (110th) and Cambodia languished at the bottom.

Countries were assessed in 44 indicators grouped into eight primary rule of law factors, namely: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice.

The Philippines’ score per factor: worsened to 0.53 from 0.55 in the 2017-2018 survey in terms of “constraints on government powers”; was flat at 0.47 in terms of “absence of corruption”; improved slightly to 0.53 from 0.52 in terms of “open government”; was sustained at 0.42 in terms of “fundamental rights”; rose to 0.57 from 0.51 in terms of “order and security”; worsened to 0.47 from 0.51 in “regulatory enforcement”; slipped to 0.44 from 0.47 in “civil justice”; and stayed at 0.31 in terms of “criminal justice.” —