HOAX: ‘Anti-Tambay’ operations reduced crime incidence nationwide

Claim: The recent rash of apprehension of loiterers has reduced the nation’s crime incidence.

The blog newspinas.xyz in their June 23 post ran the headline, “Panghuhuli ng mga Tambay sa Kalye ng mga Pulis na Utos ni Pres Duterte Bumaba ang Krimen sa Bansa! Panoorin.” (Arrest of Loiterers in the Streets of the Police as Ordered by Pres. Duterte has Reduced the Nation’s Crime Incidence! Watch Now!)

As of June 29, the post has been shared in 10 Facebook pages and groups with a combined total of 992,141 followers and 1,213 interactions.

The claim was also published by blogs.trendolizer.com which also published a fake news about a priest’s wallet containing two condoms.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: As of this posting, no recent statistics show that the anti-tambay operations have reduced crime incidence nationwide. The blog posts sole content is an opinion video.

The most recent crime statistic released by the police on May 24 was the 30% decrease in crime rate in Metro Manila from May 14-20 as compared to the same period in 2017. This was before the “anti-tambay” operations.

The embedded video, uploaded by “DU30 News,” is a reupload of politics professor Antonio Contreras’ June 22 Facebook Live video. The topics were the “culture of tambays and culture of support and criticism to Duterte.” Contreras did not mention anything supporting the claim, but rather he stated that while not all tambays are criminals, it is backed by data that a significant amount of criminals are tambays.

However, People’s Television Network (PTV) reported on June 24 that Metro Manila experienced a 49% decrease in crime rate from July 2016 to May 2018 brought by the “ordinances and laws against tambays.” But National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar on June 15 attributed the decrease to the anti-drug operations.

It was just on June 13 that the “anti-tambay” police operations were born out of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “directive” to apprehend all loiterers in the streets on his speech before newly promoted police officials. Since then, more than 3,000 were apprehended. (READ: What you should know: Duterte administration’s crackdown on ‘tambays’)

All of the blog’s posts were written by a pseudonym “BALITANG PILIPINAS.” The author profile shows his/her other 30 blogs even include a cooking blog masked as a Korean Drama page.

The blog’s disclaimer, contact details, its Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and contribution page all lead to a defunct page. Similar to various “fake news” blogs Rappler has checked, the blog does not have an editorial board, company profile, and is pro-administration. — Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

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