Palace hopeful Philippines' ranking in global perceptions poll will improve
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is optimistic that the Philippines' ranking in a survey on global citizens' perceptions of countries would improve because of the Duterte administration's policies.
The Philippines ranked 50th out of 80 countries in the 2019 US News & World Report Best Countries poll on how global perceptions define countries based on a number of characteristics.
The country ranked a notch lower from 49th in 2018, according to the US News website. Its ranking was also lower than those of its Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand (26th), Malaysia (38th), Vietnam (39th) and Indonesia (43th). Switzerland topped this year's survey for the third consecutive year followed by Japan, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
While the Philippines' ranking went down this year, the Duterte administration welcomed the results of the poll and vowed to continue policies that would improve the country's image abroad.
"We welcome the latest US News and World Report 2019 Best Countries Ranking which puts the Philippines at Number 50, drawn from a survey of more than 21,000 global citizens," presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said the Duterte administration is working to improve the Philippines' business climate and to increase investor confidence by cleansing the government of corrupt officials and streamlining the delivery of frontline services. He said environmentally sustainable tourism is also a priority of the government.
"We are therefore confident that we would continue to improve our ranking as we remain committed to institute reforms for the betterment of the Philippines that we all love," the presidential spokesman said.
The survey grouped the countries' attributes into nine subrankings namely adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power and quality of life.
Panelo said the Philippines scored highly in adventure, open for business, and quality of life indicators — results that, according to him, highlighted the country as an emerging market for business, investments and tourism.
The survey, which was done in partnership with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and marketing communications firm VMLY&R, gathered the perceptions of more than 20,000 people from 36 countries.
In its description for the Philippines, the US News & World Report cited the government's effort to boost social spending to battle high unemployment and manage a rapidly growing population. It also mentioned the important role of Filipino migrant workers' remittances in the economy, the country's vulnerability to natural disasters, and President Duterte's war on illegal drugs.
"International rights groups have criticized the president for his controversial drug war, which has resulted in thousands of deaths," the description read.
- Latest
- Trending
