Philippines climbs 4 notches to 125th in Global Peace Index 2022

The Philippines has moved up four notches to 125th place out of 163 countries in this year’s Global Peace Index (GPI).

Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, GPI 2022 recognizes the Philippines as among the five countries with the largest improvement in peace and security indicators along with Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria.

In peacefulness scale of 1 to 5 -- where 1 is highest -- the Philippines got an overall score of 2.339.

Also, the country recorded the largest improvement in the Asia-Pacific region and the fifth largest improvement in peace.

Least peaceful 

Despite this improvement, the report said the Philippines has remained to be the third least peaceful country in the region for the second year in a row, and followed by Myanmar, and North Korea.

Meanwhile, Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world since 2008, the report said. It was followed by New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Singapore, and Japan.

Fruit of comprehensive peace process

Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. welcomed the improvement in the country’s GPI, saying that it is “a testament of the national government’s steadfast commitment to push forward the comprehensive Philippine peace process.”

Galvez said the country’s improvement in the rankings is a product of the “whole-of-nation, and whole-of-society approach” implemented by the Duterte administration in achieving peace and order.

He said that the government’s peacebuilding efforts are anchored on the Duterte administration's six-point peace and development agenda (its enhanced strategy for change), and a testament of its commitment towards laying the foundations for inclusive growth, high-trust and resiliency, and winning peace.

“This is the fruit of our hard work, and we thank all our peace partners who helped us achieve these improvements. We will continue to work closely with our peace stakeholders to carry out more peacebuilding initiatives,” Galvez said in a statement.

“As we reap the dividends of peace here in the country, we shall also be strengthening our international partnerships so that we can create a ripple effect across the globe,” he added.

Moreover, Galvez said that the government is committed to attain a higher level of peacefulness in the coming years.

“We remain open to work with more peace partners that share the same vision of advancing peace throughout the world,” he added.

The GPI was based on 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators which measure the state of peace across three major domains such as safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarization. —LBG, GMA News