ILOILO CITY — In 2021, criminal incidents in Western Visayas region were reduced by 18.45 percent.
Data from Police Regional Office (PRO-6) showed that there were a total of 17,710 crime incidents in 2021. There was a decline of 4,008 incidents in comparison to the 21,718 incidents recorded in 2020.
Police Brigadier General Flynn Dongbo, PRO-6 director, commended police commanders in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod for reducing crime last year.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Solis, PRO-6 spokesperson, said this was the combined decrease in the eight focus crimes: murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, and stealing of vehicles.
Iloilo City had the highest decrease in crime incidents for 2021. There was a 38.8 percent decrease. There were only 4,089 criminal incidents last year. In comparison, there were 6,682 criminal incidents in 2020.
The island province of Guimaras had the second highest decrease with only 414 in criminal incidents.
There was a 23.61 percent decrease in comparison to 2020, which recorded 542 crimes.
Aklan province ranked third with a 21.46 percent decrease. From 1,533 criminal incidents in 2020, it was reduced to 1,204 incidents in 2021.