NCRPO: Crime rate down in Metro Manila, murder cases up

MANILA, Philippines – The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Saturday, January 7, said the crime rate in Metro Manila has gone down during the second semester of 2016, with the NCRPO chief attributing this to the government’s crackdown against illegal drugs. 

NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde said cases of robbery, theft, carnapping, motornapping (motorcycle theft), rape, and physical injury have decreased between July to December, compared to the number of cases recorded by the NCRPO Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division (RIDMD) from January to June.

The NCRPO said its weekly average crime rate on crimes against property went down from 301 cases in the 1st semester of 2016 to 209 cases in the 2nd semester – a decrease of 30.56%. 

Robbery incidents went down from 86 cases to 55 cases; theft cases dropped from 177 to 134; carnapping, from 9 to 3 cases; and motornapping, from 30 to 16 cases. 

Meanwhile, the NCRPO said rape cases dropped from 22 to 19, while physical injury cases dropped from 98 to 87. 

But Albayalde also acknowledged that murder and homicide cases have gone up as the government continues its war against drugs. 

Based on the latest figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP), more than 6,200 people (as of January 6) have been killed since July 2016. More than 4,000 of those killed were victims of extrajudicial or vigilante-style killings. (IN NUMBERS: The Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’) 

In August, the PNP also told a Senate panel that the index crime volume in July 2016 had a 31% decrease compared to the same period in 2015, with PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa citing it as “an indication of the success of our anti-drug campaign.”

Index crimes include those committed against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injury and rape and crimes against property such as robbery, theft, carnapping and carjacking, and cattle rustling. – Rappler.com