Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the result of a study by the Global Peace Index 2018 which shows the Philippines is the second least peaceful country in Asia Pacific is not fair.

“As of now I can say that is not fair. It is not fair, but I’d like to look at the study again. If we can get a copy of the study then I will read it and conclude maybe later,” Lorenzana said in an interview in Makati City Thursday.

The Global Peace Index 2018 showed that the Philippines was ranked 137th out of the total of 163 countries in the world.

The study also noted that the Philippines is the second least peaceful country in Asia Pacific with regional ranking of 18 followed by North Korea as lowest.

“I cannot believe that, because a lot of people can go around very peacefully, I think they are using some parameter that are not present in the Philippines, just because there is war on drugs (it) is least peaceful. In fact, a lot of people are saying that their lives are more peaceful now because of the war on drugs,” he noted.

“How could we be the least, next only to Korea, least peaceful? No, maybe, if you ask the North Koreans they will say that they are also peaceful because there are no killings there, so I don’t think their study is very conclusive and… the methods is at most faulty,” he added.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde insisted that the Philippines is peaceful despite the study by the Global Peace Index.

“As I said these are all perceptions. Probably these are (the) effect on other sector that there are a lot of reported human rights violation here, a lot of killings. In fact if they just go here, we want these people to go to our country and see for themselves the real peace and order situation in our country then probably they will see how peaceful our country is,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS