Crimes fell 62 percent in first three years of Duterte administration: Eleazar
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) announced on Monday around 62 percent decrease in total crime rate situation since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016.
During the presentation of Metro Manila’s crime statistics report and peace and order situation, NCRPO chief Major General Guillermo Eleazar said from the total of 131,839 cases from April 2013 to June 2016, crime statistics went down to 49,835 in July 2016 to September 2019.
Based on the NCRPO’s data, carnapping dropped by 77 percent; robbery was down by 72 percent; physical injury, -67 percent; theft, -64 percent; motorcycle carnapping, -62 percent; homicide, -26 percent; and rape with 8 percent decrease.
Data showed that from January to September this year, total recorded cases of carnapping were 96 compared to 150 during the same period in 2018; robbery with 1,709 from 1,980; physical injury, 1,597 from 1,719; theft, 3,648 from 4,354; motorcycle carnapping, 571 from 580; homicide, 134 from 208; and rape with 811 from 875 last year.
“The 60 percent’s duration was the first 39 months of the administration. There was a bigger downtrend and we can attribute this to our campaign against illegal drugs. This is because most crimes committed can be associated or have involvement with illegal drugs,” said Eleazar.
“Another (factor) is our strict enforcement of city ordinances in all cities in Metro Manila,” he added.
However, NCRPO said the total number of murder cases increased to 60 percent from July 2016 to September this year. From 2019 alone, the total recorded cases of murder was at 458.
Still, NCRO said the data this year was lower than the data from previous years. From January to September 2018, total murder cases were 592, 1,295 in 2017, and 1,144 in 2016.
Eleazar said even with slight decline in murder rates, the first months of the Duterte administration saw high number of such cases.
“The first nine months of this year had lower rate compared to same period last year. But, during the first six months of this administration there was a great increase in murder cases,’ explained Eleazar.
The NCRPO chief said killings of syndicates and police scalawags involved in illegal drugs contributed to the rise of murder cases in the past years.
“The first period of the administration made an impact to the figures but we can attribute that to the killings of involved syndicates and those police scalawags who tried to silence some (drug related) syndicate members,” he said. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS
