The Philippines dropped significantly in the recent World Justice 2017-2018 Project Rule of Law Index, falling 18 places to 88th out of 113 countries, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
However, the Malacañang spokesperson said the drop in the world ranking on the adherence to the rule of law was a perception not based on reality.
The WJP Rule of Law Index measures rule of law adherence in 113 countries worldwide based on more than 110,000 household and 3,000 expert surveys.
It measures the countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.
The Philippines saw the most significant drop in Constraints on Government Powers, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, and Criminal Justice. In contrast, Burkina Faso, Kazakhstan, and Sri Lanka showed the biggest improvements in overall rank, each of which improved by nine positions over their 2016 overall rule of law ranking, the WJP index showed.
“The Philippines places 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.
However, Roque reiterated that the report is merely based on views and observations and not on reality.
“I am not saying that our criminal justice system is perfect. It is really weak, the cases run slow, victims of human rights violations and crimes wait for a long time before they get justice,” he said in Filipino.
The ranking, however, “reinforces the fact” that the government needs to implement reforms on the criminal justice system, Roque said.
“We are hoping that this would be addressed because our President is a former fiscal and exhibits political will, maybe we can raise the quality of justice in the country,” he said.
“That is something that I think is a reflection of the need to have further reforms in our justice system. But that has been there not just during the administration of the Duterte administration,” the Palace official said.