PHL rule of law improves but still among worst in region

By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES’ rule of law is still among the worst in the East Asia and the Pacific region where it retained its 13^th place out of 15 countries despite slight improvements, the World Justice Project (WJP) reported on Wednesday.

Globally, the Philippines ranked 99^th out of 142 countries after it registered an overall rule of law score of 0.46. The WJP Rule of Law index noted that the Philippines is among the minority of countries to see an increase during the year where 57% of governments globally experienced a decline.

The index score ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 being the highest and having the strongest adherence to the rule of law. The Philippines’ score is below the region’s average score of 0.59, unchanged from last year.

“After years of rule of law declines it can be easy to focus on the negative. But to do so would ignore accomplishments in anti-corruption and the hard work occurring to improve justice systems globally,” WJP Co-founder and President William H. Neukom said in a statement. “We must redouble our efforts to expand these rule of law gains in all areas.”

Nordic countries lead the list, with Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden ranking first to fourth respectively. While Myanmar, Haiti, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Venezuela ranked at the bottom 138^th to 142^nd places respectively.

Scores given to a country are the average of eight factors, ranging from zero to one, with one being the highest score.

The Philippines’ scores were unchanged in the absence of corruption (0.43), open government (0.47), criminal justice (0.31), and order and security (0.67); while it improved in fundamental rights (0.41 from 0.40 in 2023), civil justice (0.46 from 0.45 in 2023), and constraints on government powers (0.48 from 0.47 in 2023).

The country’s regulatory enforcement worsened after it scored 0.47, slipping from 0.48 in 2023.

“This may be the result of the public perception [of] the difference in the approach of the present and the previous administrations to the respective implementation of their anti-drug campaign,” National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) President Ephraim B. Cortez told BusinessWorld in a Viber message, noting the impression that there is a decrease in the killing due to the drug war.

“But it is important to note that while there is an increase in the ranking, the increase, according to the report, is ‘less than 1%.’ We have to factor in that, according to the report, there [has been] a recession on the global index on the rule of law, including the Philippines, since 2016,” he said.

Mr. Cortez noted that the slight improvement “hardly compensate[s]” to the decline of the rule of law over the past years, especially as the report finds that fundamental rights continue to decline, and corruption remains unabated.

The lawyer group leader said the right to dissent and those related to freedom of expression are rights that are most at risk.

“We can see civil society organizations being harassed with cases baselessly accusing them of ‘financing terrorism.’  We also see an increase [in] incidents of enforced disappearances involving activist[s],” he said.

Carlos H. Conde, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, linked the decline and improvement in the fundamental rights to the period of former president Rodrigo R. Duterte’s term.

“Clearly, the fact that Duterte no longer rules is a factor that may have pull up fundamental rights (by 2 points),” he said in a Viber message.

“Keep in mind that since the Duterte regime that started in 2016, the Philippines’ rank — at least on fundamental rights — plummeted because of the former president’s tyrannical actions and policies. It makes sense that since his departure from office, it has sort of stabilized.”

Mr. Conde also attributed the improvement in civil justice to the reforms enforced by the judiciary and the Department of Justice since Mr. Duterte left his office. These reforms include streamlining judicial processes, unclogging dockets, and improving the bail system, among others.

“Having said that, I think the Philippines still faces a serious problem of access to justice particularly for poor Filipinos who cannot, for example, afford legal representation or have no means of seeking redress,” he said.

When the WJP report was first published in 2015, the Philippines had an overall score of 0.53, ranking 51^st out of 102 countries.

In 2016, its ranking fell to 73^rd out of 113 countries with a score of 0.51, coinciding with the start of the bloody war on drugs under the administration of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

As more countries were added to the index, the Philippines’ ranking continued to decline, even as its score remained between 0.46 and 0.47.

The country ranked 88^th in the 2017-2018 report, 89^th in 2019, 91^st in 2020, and dropped to 102^nd in 2021.