Mayor questions PNP’s ‘drug hotbed’ tag on Olongapo City

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines – Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino questioned the shabu (methamphetamine) hotbed list of the Philippine National Police (PNP), saying this city is the “second most peaceful” in Central Luzon.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde earlier claimed that Olongapo City in Zambales was among the top cities with the highest drug proliferation, along with Santiago in Isabela, Angeles in Pampanga, and Puerto Princesa in Palawan. 

“How did he come up with the list? Because based on records, Olongapo City is the second most peaceful place in Region 3 and that is backed with figures from no less than PNP Region 3,” Paulino said.

He added that Albayalde’s statement created a “bad image of the city” without actually showing data to support it. 

But Albayalde’s announcement had been earlier rectified by PNP spokesperson Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana, who said the PNP chief mistook the listing of cities per region as one arranged according to volume. (READ: WRONG: ‘Naga top 5 city in crime volume’)

“Baka nagkamali lang si PNP chief sa nasabi niya. (Maybe what the PNP chief was a mistake) but the damage has been done and we hope that the Philippine National Police makes the correction as soon as possible,” Paulino said.

Records from the Police Regional Office in Central Luzon (PRO3) showed that Olongapo only had 189 crimes recorded from January 1 to August 19.

Additional information from PRO3 showed that Olongapo City comes in second in terms of solving crimes with 55.03%, after Bataan which has  60.87% crime solution efficiency. – Rappler.com