Democracy ‘very much alive’ in Philippines despite slip in global ranking —Palace

Malacañang on Thursday downplayed the report of a London-based think tank that the Philippines remained under a “flawed” democracy.

At a news conference, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said democracy is “very much alive” in the country even as the Philippines ranked 55th out of 167 countries in the 2020 Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), one notch lower compared to 2019.

The EIU said flawed democracies include nations that have free and fair elections and respect for basic civil liberties but may have issues such as media freedom infringement.

“We will strive to do better,” Roque said.

“Pero that ranking po 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 a victim of criticisms.”

Roque said the current ranking was “not a major slip.”

“Kung titingnan po natin ang datos, naunahan po tayo ng Taiwan, Malaysia at Timor Leste. Pero 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.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the government 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.”

“We will similarly continue to respect and promote the civil liberties of our people as we strive to further develop a democratic political culture and produce a government which efficiently functions to address their needs while encouraging their participation in governance,” he said. -MDM, GMA News