First of three parts
Speech delivered in observance of Constitution Day at the Philippine Constitution Association, Manila Polo Club, on Feb. 10, 2026.
LET me start with the state of democracy in the world. I quote the 2025 V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Report:
– The world now has 88 democracies (liberal and electoral) and 91 autocracies (electoral and closed) — a full reversal from last year.
– Liberal democracies have become the least common regime type in the world — 0.9 billion — the lowest in 50 years.
– Nearly 3 out of 4 persons in the world — 72 percent — now live in autocracies. This is the highest since 1978.
The wave of autocratization has been going on for at least 25 years and shows no sign of cresting.
The sense of all these statistics can be summed up in one sentence: Democracy all over the world is on the decline, including democracy in the Philippines.
Experts have isolated the factors that have caused the decline and demise of democracy. The factors are many, but I will focus only on the most relevant that may trigger the fragmentation of our own fragile democracy.
First is corruption that is nonstop and pervasive. This species of corruption has resulted in the inevitable downfall of governments all over the world, regardless of whether the government is democratic or autocratic. As aptly stated by the Freedom in the World 2025 Studies, “corruption is an incredibly powerful anti-democratic force. In the most extreme cases, corruption has hollowed out the state and public services, and government exist only to distribute ill-gotten wealth among a small group of cronies.”
Second is the proliferation of lawless elements like drug cartels and smuggling syndicates. These criminal syndicates trample laws, mock prosecution and destroy governments. This happened in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s. The Medellin drug cartel led by Pablo Escobar corrupted law enforcement officials, promoted political instability and caused the downfall of the Colombian government.
Third is the capture of government by an elite that neglects to help the poor in a meaningful way. An unbridgeable gap between the rich and the rest will precipitate extreme inequality, violent social upheaval and instability of governments. This happened in Sudan whose government was dominated by elites entirely indifferent to the welfare of the poor. The multiplication in number of the poor led to civil unrest, armed conflict and the ousting of its long time President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Fifth is the rise of democratically elected leaders who advance their personal goals in disregard of the guard rails of powers imposed by their own constitutions. The latest among these kinds of leaders is President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea. He declared martial law to prevent the opposition-controlled parliament from investigating his wife and his Cabinet for corruption. The people rose against President Yoon. The Constitutional Court nullified his martial law declaration and ordered him imprisoned for abuse of his emergency powers.
Sixth is an electoral system controlled by a few families and that excludes all others. The few can be powerful interest groups. The few can be autocrats averse to the holding of free and fair elections. The few can come from an alliance of individuals or groups whose binding tie is self-interest alone. Where the electoral system is in the hands of a selfish few, the few will always exert all efforts to perpetuate themselves in power ad infinitum. The familiar guns, goons and gold will be deployed to suppress the will of the majority, to crush dissenters, to butcher human rights and destroy the rule of the majority which is the bedrock of democracy.
Today, these factors that have triggered the decline and demise of democracies all over the world, hover and darken the lay of our land. Shocked by the trillions of pesos lost in corruption, jolted by the branches of government entangled in the evils of corruption, millions of our people have taken to the streets to show their anger. Their raging rage is still soaring. How it will affect our declining democracy defies certainty.
With your leave, let me offer two thoughts about the root causes of these problems now threatening our democracy. Hopefully, a good grasp of these root causes will provoke remedial and reformative measures from our responsible officials.
It is my respectful submission that the primary cause of these problems is the continuing failure of our system to elect as representatives of the people, the best qualified of our citizenry. The main culprit of this failure is the relentless reign of political dynasties in our national and local governments. Democracy is a hoax where political power is monopolized by a few families. More than any factor, dynasties spread with lightning speed the virus of inequality. Inequality is prohibited in a democracy for inequality multiplies the poor and foments the most violent kind of revolution... the revolution by people with empty stomachs and with hearts burning with anger.
But it is not only our electoral system prostituted by political dynasties that fails to attract who best can represent our people. Similarly, our system of appointing people who will run our government suffers from the same fatal flaw. Selecting the best qualified to be appointed in government positions is equally, if not more important, than electing the best qualified to be the representatives of our people. For included in these appointed positions are the justices of the Supreme Court, the Sandiganbayan, the members of Commission on Audit, Commission on Elections and the Commission on Human Rights. By constitutional fiat, these are the independent institutions tasked to check the misuse and abuse of powers by officials of our government. Beyond doubt, if our electoral and appointment system do not bring about the best and most qualified of our people, we will be ruled by an unrepresentative and incompetent government, a government run by officials oblivious to our laws on accountability, a government that will fall because it bears the seeds of its own destruction.
To be continued on Feb. 13, 2026
Reynato S. Puno is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.