Index crimes in the Philippines went down by 16 percent since January 1 this year,Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos said on Saturday, April 1.

Index crimes include murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery and caranapping of cars and motorcycles.

From Jan. 1 to March 25, 2023, Abalos said that there were 7,865 index crimes which is lower than the 9,375 incidents recorded in the same period of 2022.

Records disclosed that carnapping (motor vehicles) incidents dropped from 82 last year to 48 this year for a 41.46 decrease while cases of physical injuries went down to 898 from last year’s 1,339, down by 32.94 46 percent.

The same report revealed that rape cases fell by 29.33 percent from lst year’s 2,254 to the latest record of 1,593 while motorcycle carnapping cases decreased by 10.20 percent from the recorded 441 incidents to the latest 396 occurrences.

“Bumaba din ang kaso ng theft sa 2,647; robbery sa 1,080; murder sa 920; at homicide sa 229 (Theft cases were down to 2,627, robbery incidents dropped to 1,080, murder occurrences fell to 920 and homicide records decreased to 229,’’ Abalos said.

From Jan. 1 to March 24, the PNP had arrested 17,418 individuals in its “intensified pursuit’’ of wanted persons while P1.36 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized and 14,481 cases were filed against the arrested drug offenders.