Philippine crime volume in continuous decline – PNP chief
Published Jul 19, 2019 12:10 am
By Jan Carlo Anolin
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Oscar Albayalde said the crime volume in the country is on a downtrend, giving credit to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
PNP chief Police General Oscar Albayalde
(KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU / MANILA BULLETIN) “We can attribute to this campaign against illegal drugs,” Albayalde said in an interview with CNN Philippines Thursday. Citing records, the PNP chief said the crime rate has been continuously declining for the past three years. In 2016, since Duterte assumed office, Albayalde said the country recorded crime volume of at least 584, 883 events which significantly went down by 10.9% the following year, or at least 520, 641 cases. Although he was not able to provide concrete numbers, the PNP chief also said it slid down by six percent in 2018. Comparing the first semester of 2019 and the first-semester last year, Albayalde cited another downtrend by 5.6%. “Why is this crime volume continuously going down? There has to be an effect. We have to accept this,” the PNP chief, who is set to retire in November, said. When asked about the reports saying that the country is the “fourth most dangerous country in the world for civilian targeted violence”, Albayalde debunked it and said it is not true. The country’s ranking came from a July 3, 2019 report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). “President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’ has driven this violence, with alleged drug suspects accounting for almost 75% of this year’s civilian deaths,” ACLED reported. ACLED has recorded over 450 direct attacks targeting civilians resulting in 490 reported fatalities this year, the report said. These lethal attacks are concentrated in Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions, with 23% and 22% of reported civilian fatalities, respectively, it added. Completing the top three list are India, Syria, and Yemen. ACLED is a disaggregated conflict collection, analysis and crisis mapping project that collects data from Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, its official website said.
PNP chief Police General Oscar Albayalde(KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU / MANILA BULLETIN) “We can attribute to this campaign against illegal drugs,” Albayalde said in an interview with CNN Philippines Thursday. Citing records, the PNP chief said the crime rate has been continuously declining for the past three years. In 2016, since Duterte assumed office, Albayalde said the country recorded crime volume of at least 584, 883 events which significantly went down by 10.9% the following year, or at least 520, 641 cases. Although he was not able to provide concrete numbers, the PNP chief also said it slid down by six percent in 2018. Comparing the first semester of 2019 and the first-semester last year, Albayalde cited another downtrend by 5.6%. “Why is this crime volume continuously going down? There has to be an effect. We have to accept this,” the PNP chief, who is set to retire in November, said. When asked about the reports saying that the country is the “fourth most dangerous country in the world for civilian targeted violence”, Albayalde debunked it and said it is not true. The country’s ranking came from a July 3, 2019 report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). “President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’ has driven this violence, with alleged drug suspects accounting for almost 75% of this year’s civilian deaths,” ACLED reported. ACLED has recorded over 450 direct attacks targeting civilians resulting in 490 reported fatalities this year, the report said. These lethal attacks are concentrated in Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions, with 23% and 22% of reported civilian fatalities, respectively, it added. Completing the top three list are India, Syria, and Yemen. ACLED is a disaggregated conflict collection, analysis and crisis mapping project that collects data from Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, its official website said.