Democracy ‘very much alive’ in PH

MANILA – Even if the Philippines slipped one place to number 55 out of 167 countries in a London-based think tank’s democracy index last year, Malacañang on Thursday said democracy is “very much alive” in the country.

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after the Philippines got a score of 6.56 in 2020 from 6.64 in 2019, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Roque acknowledged that this figure puts Philippines behind its Southeast Asian neighbors Taiwan (11), Malaysia (39) and Timor Leste (44).

But he also downplayed one-point slip, saying it was not a “major” slip and that the Philippines performed better than Indonesia (64), Thailand (73), Singapore (74), Myanmar (135), Vietnam (137) and Laos (161).

“Kung titingnan natin ang datos no, naunahan po tayo ng (If you look at data, we are behind) Taiwan, Malaysia at (and) Timor Liste, pero (but) we are ahead of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos. In other words, ahead of almost all the major countries of Southeast Asia,” he said.

While assuring that the Duterte administration would work hard to improve the country’s ranking, he also pointed out that the democracy index shows that push for a more vibrant democracy.

“We will strive to do better pero (but) that ranking shows that democracy is very much alive in the Philippines, our democratic institutions are working, we have an independent judiciary, an independent legislative department, and of course, an executive department that is always the victim of criticisms,” he added.

On Wednesday, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said “endless criticisms from political opposition” as well as “government’s detractors” are proof that the administration respects democracy.

“The Duterte Administration is committed to continue respecting the voices of all citizens, as evidenced by the endless criticisms from the political opposition, the left, as well as the government’s detractors, who have unimpeded access to both local and international press,” Panelo said.

In the EIU’s 2020 democracy index, the Philippines recorded an average 6.56 score, after scoring 9.17 in electoral process and pluralism, 5 in functioning government, 7.78 in political participation, 4.38 in political culture and 6.47 in civil liberties.

The Philippines was among those described as having “flawed democracies” or those that “have free and fair elections, even if there are problems (such as infringements on media freedom), basic civil liberties are respected,” the EIU said.

It joined the list of 115 other countries out of 167 that saw a decline in its 2020 democracy index.

The think tank’s findings also showed decreases in civil liberties at 6.47 against 7.06 in 2019 and functioning of government to now at a flat 5.00 from 5.38.

The democracy index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.