RP judicial system among the worst in Asia--survey
SINGAPORE -- The Philippine judicial system is among the worst in Asia, ranking ninth in a survey of expatriate business executives that rated judicial systems in the region.
"Few foreign investors feel very confident working with the legal system" in the Philippines where "laws are not built so much on precedents as on quicksand," according to the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC).
The Philippines' ratings fell sharply to 8.10 from 7.71 in 2004, PERC noted.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Singapore have the best judicial systems in Asia, while those of Indonesia and Vietnam are the worst, PERC said.
Hong Kong pipped Singapore for the top spot, toppling the rival city-state from its pole position in 2004.
Foreign business leaders' perception of Indonesia's judicial system worsened this year from a year ago, despite efforts by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fight corruption, putting the country in the bottom of the rankings.
PERC noted a "huge
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gap" between what countries say is the level of independence of their judicial systems and what foreign investors think.
In ranking the countries or cities, the business executives gave weight to how legal systems are used to enforce contracts, resolve disputes, fight intellectual piracy and enforce securities and exchange regulations.
Places such as Hong Kong and Singapore whose judicial systems have been consistently ranked highly have emerged as major Asian business hubs, PERC noted.
"It is no coincidence that in our own surveys of expatriates working in Asia, those countries that are graded the worst for variables like corruption and intellectual property rights risks are the same ones graded very poorly for the quality of their police and judiciary," PERC said.
In the PERC rankings, countries and cities were graded on a scale from zero to 10, with zero being the best grade possible and 10 the worst.
Respondents were asked to rate quality of the court system and the police force, and the scores were averaged to get the overall scores.
Hong Kong emerged on top with a grade of 1.73, improving from its 2.55 rating last year.
Singapore, which had an overall grade of 1.25 in 2004, fell to a close second place with a score of 1.75.
PERC said that despite criticisms by opposition politicians of Singapore's judicial system, local politics hardly made a dent on foreign investors' views.
"Rather, they care about the way commercial law is practiced and how normal crime is dealt with," it said.
Japan was in third place, scoring 2.73, which is better than its 3.93 performance a year ago. It was followed by South Korea, whose score of 3.96 improved from 5.67.
Taiwan placed fifth in the rankings with a score of 5.07, improving from 5.55, while Malaysia came in sixth with a grade of 6.06, better than last year's 7.50.
India was in seventh place with a score of 7.20, an improvement from 8.0 last year.
Thailand placed eight with a grade of 7.65, better than 7.83 in 2004, followed by the Philippines at ninth.
China's ratings posted the most dramatic reversal, falling four notches to 10th place with a score of 8.15, as expatriates became "increasingly critical" of the country's police and court system, PERC said. China was in sixth place in last year's survey.
"China has done a lot to improve the quality of its laws, especially those relating to commercial law... but the record of enforcement is, at best, patchy. Arbitrary is probably a better description," the Hong Kong-based PERC said.
Vietnam was in 11th place, its score deteriorating to 8.40 from 8.04, while Indonesia was graded 8.85, worse than the 8.0 it got in 2004.
Indonesian President Yudhoyono is fighting an uphill battle in efforts to clean up the judicial system, PERC said.
"The problem of corruption is too pervasive, and so many people and groups would be threatened by a thorough crackdown that it would probably be more destabilizing than helpful for the country," it said.
However, PERC said Yudhoyono's efforts have caused it and other observers "to believe that the status quo might be changing."
RP judicial system among the worst in Asia
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