WorldRisk

Which passport do you hold?

Risk to a traveller depends on their nationality. A country that sanctions your destination, or is sanctioned by it, changes how you are treated on arrival. Choosing here adjusts every score on the site.

We hold travel advice written for four nationalities so far. Selecting anything else shows the neutral baseline, and every page says so where it applies rather than presenting it as an assessment made for you.

Kept in your browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere, and you can change it at any time from the header.

All countries

Philippines

43Caution43 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49good confidence(7/7 dimensions)
What this score means
Extreme75 to 100
Severe and systematic. Device search, interception and detention over online activity are documented rather than theoretical. Reconsider what you carry and what you say.
High50 to 74
Substantial and consistently evidenced measures. Device inspection, monitored networks or restricted services should be expected rather than treated as unlikely.
Caution25 to 49
Some risk, and manageable with precautions. Measures are evidenced but are narrow, inconsistently applied, or the picture is mixed.
Low0 to 24
Ordinary precautions. No systematic device search, network restriction or prosecution of visitors for online speech is evidenced.

Government travel advice is written for one citizenry, so the same country carries a different assessment depending on your passport. Change it in the header.

Showing the baseline, which weights every issuer equally. No government in our corpus publishes travel advice written for you, so this is not addressed to you specifically.

Dimensions

Each dimension is scored independently, because the traveller who cares about legal exposure for what they have posted is often not the one carrying client data. Higher means more risk.

Surveillance and interception

How comprehensively are communications intercepted, retained, and monitored, and is commercial spyware in use?

66High66 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence5 independent sources

Why this score (9 sources)

  • Freedom House 2026 scored PHL 3 of 4 on freedom to express personal views on sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution.

    Freedom House, Freedom in the World · observed 2026-01-01

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored PHL 1.37 of 4 on how comprehensively the government monitors social media and private online communication, where higher is freer.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored PHL 3.25 of 4 on how far privacy protection law shields communications from government access, where higher is freer. This measures what privacy law permits rather than what monitoring is practised, so it is read here as a constraint on interception rather than a measurement of it.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2025 scored PHL 0.23 of 1 on whether freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy is effectively guaranteed, a measure built from expert assessments of warrantless interception of communications.

    World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index, sub-factor 4.6 · observed 2025-01-01

  • SB 33, proposed by former police chief Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, would also allow the military, law enforcement, or intelligence personnel to intercept private messages so long as they get permission from the Court of Appeals.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2026-03-04 · extracted by language model

  • Josol told a press conference on Friday, March 28, that authorities spent more than a month conducting surveillance and building a case against the two Malaysians, following a complaint from one of their alleged victims involving a love scam and human trafficking.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2025-03-31 · extracted by language model

  • “There was extensive case build up, and surveillance was done on this individual,” he said.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2025-01-30 · extracted by language model

  • Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., authorities continue to resort to “red-tagging,” a practice in which journalists are labelled as subversives or linked to armed groups, exposing them to threats, surveillance, and prosecution.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2026-07-24 · extracted by language model

  • The mission, organised by various international organisations, reported forms and incidents of harassment including surveillance of delegates in Manila and Leyte, and harassment by barangay officials in Mindoro who demanded permits for the mission and a list of names of delegates, and threatened to declare participants persona non grata if the mission failed to comply.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2025-10-27 · extracted by language model

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

1 excluded source
  • Rappler, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-06-06: aged out after 2 years.

Network threat

How hostile is the network environment to a foreign visitor, from state actors and criminals alike?

51High51 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence4 independent sourcesEvidence is ageing: contributing sources are weighted at 66% of full strength.

Why this score (6 sources)

  • ITU Global Cybersecurity Index 2024, Technical pillar: 19.11 of 20.

    International Telecommunication Union, Global Cybersecurity Index · observed 2024-12-31

  • Freedom House scored Philippines 17 of 25 on obstacles to access in Freedom on the Net, a category covering state control over internet infrastructure and gateways, regulatory and ownership control over service providers, and the independence of the regulator.

    Freedom House, Freedom on the Net, obstacles to access · observed 2025-01-01

  • The Philippines was highlighted by the report as a special concern as the country becomes top 10 of the most DDoS-attacked countries in the world in Q3, jumping up by 20 spots.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2025-12-12 · extracted by language model

  • The country’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center announces the video game GoreBox has been blocked on two major storefronts.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2026-06-30 · extracted by language model

  • The beatings were so severe that some victims needed medical treatment, according to Taule.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2026-03-11 · extracted by language model

  • MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) announced on Tuesday, June 30, that the video game GoreBox has been blocked in the two major storefronts hosting it — Valve’s Steam PC storefront, and Google’s Play Store for Android.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2026-06-30 · extracted by language model

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

3 excluded sources
  • Rappler, via a site scoped search, observed 2023-09-22: aged out after 3 years.
  • Rappler, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-08-09: aged out after 2 years.
  • Rappler, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-07-30: aged out after 2 years.

Speech and legal exposure

What legal risk attaches to what I have said online, or say while I am there?

49Caution49 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence8 independent sources

Why this score (11 sources)

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Border device risk

How likely is my device to be searched, imaged, or seized at the border, and can I be compelled to unlock it?

41Caution41 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence5 independent sources

No reports were found of devices being searched, imaged or seized at this border, or of travellers being compelled to unlock them. The score below is drawn from general indicators for this country rather than from anything observed about this risk, so it describes an absence of reports rather than evidence that the risk is absent.

What the score rests on (5 indirect sources)

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Connectivity continuity

How likely am I to lose access to the internet, or to the specific tools I depend on?

36Caution36 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence10 independent sources

Why this score (23 sources)

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Encryption and VPN legality

Are VPNs and strong encryption lawful, and can I be required to install an application or hand over keys?

28Caution28 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence4 independent sources

Why this score (4 sources)

  • Minimal restrictions. There are no restrictions on the use of encryption in the Philippines. There are minimum advanced encryption standards set for personal data kept by government agencies.

    Global Partners Digital, World Map of Encryption Laws and Policies · observed 2019-06-01

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored PHL 2.40 of 4 on whether the government regulates the internet in a way consistent with international human rights standards, where higher is freer. This does not establish whether encryption or VPN use is lawful. It measures internet regulation in general, and is used as indirect evidence because the only survey that reads encryption law directly was published in 2019.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • OONI recorded no confirmed blocking across 62,228 measurements of anonymity and censorship circumvention tools in PHL over the 90 days to 2026-10-16, with 2,536 further results inconclusive.

    Open Observatory of Network Interference, OONI measurement data · observed 2026-10-16

  • The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) via an interview on DZRH , Tuesday, February 24, floated the idea of banning the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

    Rappler, via a site scoped search · observed 2026-02-25 · extracted by language model

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Data jurisdiction

What happens to corporate or client data I carry into the jurisdiction?

24Low24 of 100, Low band, 0 to 24

moderate confidence1 independent source

Why this score (1 source)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Trend

02550751002026-08-162026-10-16

The overall score is up 4.7 points over 61 days, from 38.1 to 42.8. Most movement is the event overlay decaying rather than anything happening: a news signal loses half its weight every three weeks, so a score drifts back toward its structural baseline on its own. A step that holds is the one worth reading.

Check this yourself

These are not inputs to the score for Philippines. They are where to look if you want to test what is above against something we did not use.

Sources

This assessment draws on 15 sources: Auswärtiges Amt, Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise; CIVICUS Monitor country updates; Freedom House, Freedom in the World; Freedom House, Freedom on the Net, obstacles to access; Georgia Tech Internet Intelligence Lab, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis; Global Affairs Canada, Travel advice and advisories; Global Partners Digital, World Map of Encryption Laws and Policies; International Telecommunication Union, Global Cybersecurity Index; Open Observatory of Network Interference, OONI measurement data; Rappler, via a site scoped search; Reporters Without Borders, via a site scoped search; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Foreign travel advice; US Department of State, Travel Advisories; V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project; World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index, sub-factor 4.6. Every contributing claim is quoted with its origin and date above. Model version 0.12.0, computed 2026-10-16.

If something here is wrong, say so. Corrections are handled in public, and we correct because the evidence is wrong, not because someone objects.