Crime volume in the country during the first quarter fell by 16 percent, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported Friday.

The PNP's Crime Information Reporting and Analysis showed that there were 7,865 index crimes recorded from Jan. 1 to March 25, or down by 16.11 percent from 9, 375 cases during the same period in 2022.

PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. presented their report about the

crime situation in the country during a volunteers national congress held at San Juan City.

In the eight focus crimes, car theft recorded the biggest decrease from 82 to 48, down 41.46 percent followed by physical injury incidents with 32.94 percent, from 1.339 to 898.

Rape cases declined 29.33 percent, from 2,254 to 1,593, PNP data showed.

For motorcycle theft, incidents fell from 441 to 396, a decrease of 10.20 percent.

Robberies went down from 1,184 to 1,080, lower by 8.78 percent while theft dropped by 7.83 percent to 2,647 from 2,872.

Homicide cases slightly went down by 0.87 percent from 231 to 229.

Murder cases were 0.86 percent lower, or from 928 to 920. DMS