PH sees biggest drop in ranking on rule of law adherence

The Philippines saw its biggest decline in an index measuring adherence to rule of law among 113 countries last year.

The World Justice Project (WJP) on Monday released its 2017-2018 Rule of Law Index, which showed that the Philippines dropped 18 places in its rankings of countries on their adherence to the rule of law.

“The biggest mover in this year’s WJP Rule of Law Index (calculated by comparing countries against the 2016 rankings) was the Philippines,” WJP said in a statement.

“The Philippines continued to drop significantly in the global ranks, falling 18 places to 88th out of 113 countries,” it added.

Most significant

WJP said the Philippines saw the most significant deterioration in constraints on government powers, fundamental rights, order and security, and criminal justice.

“Its score places it at 13 out of 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region and 17 out of 30 among lower-middle income countries,” the organization said.

Malacañang said it would comment on the WJP findings on Thursday.

WJP said its findings were based on surveys involving more than 110,000 households and 3,000 experts worldwide.

“We are witnessing a global deterioration in fundamental aspects of the rule of law,” said William H. Neukom, WJP founder and CEO.

“Reduced adherence to the rule of law anywhere threatens development everywhere,” he added.

WJP said a majority of countries worldwide saw their scores decline in the areas of human rights, checks on government powers, and civil and criminal justice.

It said the greatest drop was seen in fundamental rights, which declined in 71 countries.

Fundamental rights include absence of discrimination, right to life and security, due process, freedom of expression and religion, right to privacy, freedom of association and labor rights. —Philip C. Tubeza