Philippines ranks 100th out of 142 nations on rule of law — WJP

The Philippines placed 100th out of 142 countries complying with the rule of law with a 0.46% overall index score.

The World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023, released on October 25, showed that the Philippines dropped three spots from its 97th rank (0.47%) in 2022.  The WJP's highest score is 1 while 0 is the lowest possible score.

Among the East Asia and Pacific Region, the Philippines is at 13th place out of 15 other Asian nations.

The WJP Rule of Law Index covers 142 nations and is based on national surveys of more than 149,000 households and 3,400 legal practitioners and experts to measure "how the rule of law is experienced and perceived worldwide."

In a statement, the WJP said the rule of law "has once again eroded in a majority of countries this year."

"Since authoritarian trends pushed the world into a rule of law recession in 2016, the global downturn has affected 78% of countries, the latest Index shows," it added.

The WJP evaluated the Philippines on several factors, receiving the following global ranking:

• 93rd for Constraints on Government Powers with 0.47%
• 83rd for Absence of Corruption with 0.43%
• 79th for Open Government with 0.47%
• 120th for Fundamental Rights with 0.40%
• 94th for Order and Security with 0.67%
• 84th for Regulatory Enforcement with 0.47%
• 103rd for Civil Justice with 0.45%
• 120th for Criminal Justice with 0.31%

The rule of law index measures human rights, access to justice, corruption and authoritarianism worldwide by calculating rankings based on a country’s constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice.

Denmark topped the overall rankings with a 0.90% score, followed by Norway placing 2nd with 0.89% and Finland placing 3rd at 0.87%

Meanwhile, Venezuela placed last at rank 142 with 0.26% overall score, followed by Cambodia and Afghanistan.—LDF, GMA Integrated News