MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II isn’t buying presidential rival Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s 3 to 6 month deadline to eradicate crime in the country.

“Itong 3-6 months na ito, pambobola ito eh. Lahat ng eksperto na nakakaalam sa krimen, nagsasabing imposible ito,” Roxas told reporters in a chance interview while campaigning in Oriental Mindoro on Wednesday, April 6.

(This 3-6 month promise, he’s tricking people. All the experts on crime say it’s impossible.)

Eradicating crime and drugs has been at the forefront of the Duterte campaign. The Davao mayor, famous – or infamous – for his tough stance against crime and criminally has repeatedly said he will be able to get ride of crime between 3 to 6 months, but has failed to explain how he intends to do it. (READ: Duterte on how to fight crime: ‘It has to be bloody’)

Roxas then hit Duterte for supposedly failing to eradicate crime in his own city, even if he’s been in power for more than two decades.

“So papaano sasabihin na titigil lahat ito sa loob ng 3 hanggang anim na buwan, eh sa 20 taon sa Davao City, hindi ito nasugpo?” he added.

(How can he say he’ll stop crime in 3 to 6 months when even after 22 years in Davao, crime still exists.)

In December, Roxas said that Davao City has the 4th highest number of crime incidents among cities in the country, which Duterte disputed. This matched the  Philippine National Police list released on April 1 wherein Davao City was 4th among cities with the highest number of index crimes in the country, after Quezon City, Manila, and Cebu City, from 2010 to 2015.

Asked what “Daang Matuwid (Straight Path),” the current administration’s tagline for its transparency, good governance and anti-corruption, has to offer when it comes to crime, Roxas cited programs of the PNP when he was interior chief.

Lambat-Sibat, described as a data-based approach to prevent crime and improve police operations, was hatched when Roxas headed the interior department.

Citing data from the PNP, Roxas claimed crime incidents was slashed from 916 weekly to only 250.

The program includes audits of police blotters, mapping of crime incidents, and using this data to plan police deployments. – Rappler.com