Global Finance is an international magazine with a circulation of 50,050 distributed in 163 countries. The magazine recently ranked the Philippines as most unsafe country out of 134 countries worldwide. This is the second time that the Philippines placed last in the magazine’s evaluation, after its 2019 rankings that listed 128 countries.
Why do I get the feeling that my country is being singled out by a magazine that is trying to punch above its weight class?
It’s not good to assume ill intent. But what do you do when somebody won’t stop painting a bad image of your country based on unreliable information? What to do when a writer won’t even attempt to get information from reliable sources so he won’t come out with a much more negative conclusion than the reality of the truth would present?
The author wrote: “Global Finance magazine’s safety index factors in risks of natural disaster with crime, terrorism and war to present a more rounded analysis of the world’s safest countries.”
We won’t hire a charlatan to tell us that things are actually the way we would like them to be when it comes to natural disasters. We are located along the typhoon belt in the Pacific, and the Philippines is visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year. But there are reliable sources that can discuss without bias the crime, terrorism and war situation in the Philippines.
That’s why Philippine National Police Chief General Guillermo Eleazar is complaining about the Global Finance report. “Our crime statistics does not align with this ranking. Our fellows in the media can attest to this because we regularly release the crime situation in our country, where the huge drop in crime can be seen,” he said.
Eleazar said the crime rate in the first five years of the Duterte administration is down 63 percent, compared to the crime rate in the first five years of the Aquino administration. Why was that fact not factored in?
“Nevertheless, we will take this latest ranking as a challenge to do more in terms of further improving the peace and order and security of our country,” the PNP Chief said.
Malacañang earlier debunked Global Finance’s ranking of the Philippines at the bottom of the list of the safest countries in the world. “The opinion of Global Finance is but one among many varied points of view. While it is given that the Philippines is prone to natural hazards owing to its geographical location in the Pacific rim as well as due to climate change, our disaster management system continues to improve. The Filipino people are also growing more resilient and adaptive,” the Palace statement said.
The Palace said it is noteworthy to mention that 86 percent of Filipinos are satisfied with the Duterte administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, as shown by Pulse Asia’s December 2020 survey.
Global Finance may not believe in Philippine surveys, but they should have interviewed health experts. If they don’t want to talk to Filipino health experts, how hard is it to call Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to the Philippines?
In case Global Finance don’t like to read news about the Philippines that they didn’t write, here’s what Dr. Abeyasinghe said about the country’s Covid response: “The Philippines has done a good job.”
Dr. Abeyasinghe said the Philippines’s response to the pandemic, as compared to different countries from the perspective of its income capacity, population size, and topographical challenges, the number of people having died from Covid-19 in the Philippines is “comparatively lower than many other countries” despite its “very limited capacities.”
“From that perspective, if you’re honest, it appears that the Philippines has done a good job,” Dr. Abeyasinghe said. He added that other countries have shut down their borders even to their own nationals amid the pandemic, whereas the Philippines has welcomed its overseas Filipino workers.
“With those people coming in, the virus comes in. So, you have to take all of that humanitarian angle in addition to the response and weight,” he said.
We want to give Global Finance the benefit of the doubt, because it can happen that they interviewed the wrong Philippine “experts.”
This reminds us of the BBC incident in London on May 8, 2006. Guy Goma is a business studies graduate from the Republic of the Congo who was accidentally interviewed live on BBC News 24. Goma was mistaken for technology expert Guy Kewney when he went to the BBC for a job interview and was brought onto a BBC special regarding the case Apple Corps v. Apple Computer to provide insight on a subject he knew little about.
From Wikipedia: “Goma was waiting in the main reception area of the BBC Television Centre in west London to be interviewed for a job as a data support cleanser in the corporation’s IT department. At the same time, Guy Kewney, a British technology expert, was in another reception area preparing for a live television interview on the subject of Apple Computer’s court case with the Beatles’ record label, Apple Corps.
“The producer sent to fetch Kewney was told that Kewney was in the main reception area. When he asked the receptionist where Guy Kewney was, she pointed to Goma, even after he asked if she was sure this was the right person. The producer had seen a photo of Kewney, but only had five minutes before the live interview was due to take place. He approached Goma and asked him if he was “Guy.” Hearing his first name, Goma answered in the affirmative. Goma was led to the News 24 studio. BBC staff put on makeup, and he was ushered to the television studio, where he was seated in front of the cameras and wired up with a microphone. Although he thought the situation was strange, he believed he was about to be interviewed for a job.”
Strange things happen in real life. At least we can call the BBC faux pas an accident. While we can admire the guts of the wrong expert interviewed live on national television in London, these are the kinds of experts that must be shunned. We hope Global Finance has the competence to find the right participants in its studies. The last thing you want as a researcher is to pick the wrong guy to base your research on.
Global Finance magazine said “these rankings and scores should be taken with a grain of salt” because they are based “on concise reports produced by NGOs and international organizations.” In other words, Global Finance has nothing to do with the reports where they based their conclusions. They seem to have relied on ultracrepidarians to tell them which countries are the safest in the world.
Hospitality is the trademark of Filipinos. For us, it is a pleasure to accept foreigners as visitors and build genuine friendship with them.
We hope the Global Finance author will have the chance to visit the Philippines after the pandemic so he can experience Filipino hospitality at its best. He may even be surprised to find out that the Philippines is a much safer destination for foreign visitors than some of the countries on his list.
Surely, he will be warmly welcomed, and he might find new friends as a bonus. There’s just one group game he won’t be invited to participate—it’s a parlor game called “Truth or Consequence.” You can’t play this game if you have nothing truthful to tell.
17 comments
Please write more about global finance. I believe this firm is paid to undermine our country.
I agree! I will do my own research as well.
Being on the list means a country is among the safest. Last year, there are only 128 where PH being the last. This year, 143 made it, and again, Ph was still in it. Imagine this list are Board Passer list, being the last on the list does not mean that you failed. Failing means you are not on the list. If PH is indeed unsafe, PH will not be listed like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
The original article based safety on the country’s handling of COVID-19. It might help if people actually read the article first. What a waste of time.
So Philippines is more dangerous then the “Cartel/Drug Infested” countries in South America?
..than rebel infested Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan?
..than pirate infested, genocidal African Continent?
What a mother fycking writer and researcher this firm has? All ill-educated, paid to undermine the country. Mga tarantadong putangina.
I’m surprised as well when I read the article about the Philippines having placed last. Seriously, they have to come to the Philippines and experience it first hand before rating us with baseless data.
Yet another apologist raging on how great the Philippines is amid the extra judicial killings; covid response failures (vaccine procurement, 9 BILLION unutilized funds returned to the national treasury, and more); rampant corruption; skyrocketing unemployment; flagrant displays of abuse of power (police/military brutality and the like). The article specifically factored in “war and peace, personal security, and natural disaster risk” including the pandemic response. The PH govt opted to create a military-led task force instead of relying on actual medical professionals to contain a public health emergency. Get a grip. And grow some grey matter while you’re at it.
Very fine article by Angel , i dont know how the Philippines has got such a bad rating , i came from London United kingdom, and the crime rate there is atrocious, especially knife and drug related crime is bad , and also i cannot believe Colombia is higher than the Philippines
been on Mindanao 13 years and never had a problem.
Good read. A fresh perspective.
Checks and balances of the 3 branches of the government are working. Ignore bitter losers and blind self-righteous people who worship deceptive oligarchs and murderous communists. They cannot be helped. No government is perfect but this administration has done what it has promised to the Filipino people. This is not a country of yellows and communists. This is a democratic and republican country and the fact that there is no people power nor martial law in place shows that no magazine from foreign country nor sore communist yellow losers can fool majority of the FILIPINO people of what is it that they want and how they really want their country to be run. (By the duly elected and costituted authorities.)
it sad that we Filipinos allowing other country in making fun by paying our own people to manipulate in every aspect of our system….
Angel, I’ll assume you did your due diligence and read the actual article, I’ll also assume that people commenting here also read the article.
Even if you cite Filipino’s opinion on the pandemic handling, it doesn’t weigh up to the hard data of how our government handled it. You do know the difference between fact and opinion, I’m sure.
When will we Filipinos stop taking outside criticism as a conspiracy to undermine the country? No one’s undermining the country but ourselves.
The Pilippines is a beautiful country not a dangerous country your wrong, Pls come and very our country so that you see the fun and excitement, more fun in the Pilippines everyone,
For me as a foreigner living in the Philippines I think locally the covid has been handled good but I’m unhappy non covid cases are reported as covid.
As for dangerous …the drivers here are the biggest threat to life .
Total lack of driver education on all levels .
I find the country to be friendly in general and welcoming .
Police and military are working hard to make it safer …thank you .
Can’t blame to the writers … and its true… that the government itself must do their very best to solve …
You are right Dud! Who the hell is this wrter who makes inaccurate information about th Ph. I would gladly be willing to invite them to come to Southern Ph. and try to stay with those Aussies & Americans who are farming here.
@Anonymous COVID? The Philippines has had 25k deaths/110 million people. And a vaccination rate more or less equal to countries like Thailand or South Africa which are listed much higher. Compare that to the the US at 600k/330 million, Brazil has 540k/211 million, Guatemala has 9.5k/16 million, Colombia has 114k/50 million. Indonesia and India are running out of oxygen tanks. All of those countries are listed much higher.
Is it crime? Nope. The homicide rate of countries like Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, El Salvador etc. are 3x to 4x the homicide rate of the Philippines.
Is it the separatist movement in western Mindanao? Nope. Thailand, Indonesia, etc. all have separatist movements and terrorist incidents and are still listed higher. Yemen is LITERALLY AT WAR. But is listed higher than the Philippines.
Is it the volcanoes and the typhoons and the earthquakes? Most of those things kill only a few dozen a year. The United States, China, and Indonesia all have higher rates of natural disasters (fires, flooding, volcanoes, earthquakes, typhoons/hurricanes).
Is it Duterte? I don’t like him either. But so far, he hasn’t become a totalitarian dictator… yet. Unlike the leaders of countries like Cambodia, Laos, China, etc. Many Latin American countries also have drug wars. South Africa is rioting right now because of political unrest.
So no. The Global Finance Report is complete rubbish. They don’t even disclose the details of how they compute the rankings. Just throwing out vague rationales at how the Philippines supposedly had civil unrest AND a bad covid response AND natural disasters. So it’s supposedly more dangerous.
Whether you are for or against the government, this is wrong. Global Finance is literally lying through its teeth. And things like this survey have a lasting effect on our economy which relies so much on tourism.