MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar on Friday vowed to further improve the organization’s commitment to its mandate following the release of a World Justice Project (WJP) 2021 report in which the country ranked low in the world rule of law index.
The Philippines ranked 102 out of 139 countries on compliance with the rule of law, dropping three positions in global rank.
“We in the Philippine National Police take note of the report of the World Justice Project and consider this as a challenge to do more on our mandate of maintaining peace and order,” Eleazar said in a statement.
He said the PNP will also further improve its commitment to serve and protect the people, and to strengthen resolve for the Filipino people to continue to have trust and confidence in the country’s justice system.
The WJP, a global think tank, indicated in its report that the Philippines’ current rank was three places lower than its ranking in 2020. The country’s score also decreased by 2.9 percent in the current index.
The WJP said the Philippines scored an overall 0.46 for rule of law. The body’s highest score is 1 while 0 is the lowest possible score.
The index covers 139 countries and jurisdictions, and is based on national surveys of more than 138,000 households and 4,200 legal practitioners and experts to measure how the rule of law is experience and perceived around the world.
While the WJP data were only collected in three major cities in the Philippines compared to a nationwide scope done in the majority of the countries surveyed, Eleazar said that they still consider the report as “a valuable tool to review, assess and make the necessary adjustments” since Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao are appropriate representations of the peace and order situation of the country.
“Our ultimate goal for every Filipino to feel the true sense of security and justice in the country has been a work in progress, and inputs from various institutions that include the WJP are always factored in to rethink and adjust our policies to attain this objective,” he said.
“We assure our kababayan that your Philippine National Police will continuously strengthen the transparency and accountability in the police organization and tirelessly work and initiate reforms to ensure that every police officer would live up to the high ethical, moral and service standards of the Filipino people,” he added.
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