Democratic experiment

SIX out of every 10 Filipinos believe democracy is “always preferable to any other kind of government.” The Social Weather Stations (SWS), which released its latest survey results on Independence Day, also reported that the share of respondents who “always prefer democracy” has been 50 percent or better since February 2009.

The latest numbers, based on a survey SWS conducted from March 23 to 27, 2018, are practically the same as in last year’s survey (61 percent in June 2017 found democracy “always preferable”) but below the record high of 65 percent in June 2013.

Filipinos who believe that “under some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one” accounted for 19 percent of the SWS’ respondents.

This was unchanged from the results in September 2016. SWS pointed out that it has always been below 20 percent since December 2015, in five consecutive surveys.

Here’s an interesting comparison. In three rounds of surveys during President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, an average of 19 percent said that authoritarianism was preferable “sometimes.”

That share is lower than the average of 25.6 percent of respondents who thought the same from September 2010 to March 2012, when the first three such surveys were held during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.

Preference for democracy is also more pronounced. Sixty-one percent, on average, found democracy “always preferable” in three surveys held after the May 2016 elections.

For the first three such surveys held after May 2010, those who found democracy “always preferable” amounted to 57 percent, on average. This peaked at 65 percent in June 2013 and at 64 percent in March 2002.

These numbers are encouraging, when one considers all the alarms raised about democracy being in peril in so many countries.

The think tank Freedom House, in its Freedom in the World 2018 report, said for instance that democracy “faced its most serious crisis in decades” in 2017, when the rule of law, press freedom, the rights of minorities, and the guarantees of free and fair elections “came under attack around the world.” By its standards, the Philippines is only partly free.

Cited among recent setbacks were the declaration of martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2018 and the climate of impunity in the face of crime, including thousands of extrajudicial killings in the campaign against illegal drugs. “Due process,” Freedom House pointed out, “is seriously compromised.”

The same report, however, observes that “citizen activism and public discussion are robust.”

These are positives we must make the most of, if we are to convince fellow citizens that democracy, while flawed, uneven, and often unruly, remains more viable than authoritarian rule.