The crime environment in the Philippines since January this year continues to improve with the decrease in the eight focus crimes that include murder, homicide and robbery cases, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday, April 10.
Citing police data, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. said the eight focus crimes are down by 14.69 percent from January 1 to April 8 this year, compared to the same period in 2022—or from 10,954 cases last year to 9,345 this year.
The eight focus crimes are murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, theft, robbery, carnapping of vehicles and carnapping of motorcycles.
Since he assumed the top post in August last year, Azurin has implemented measures to improve police visibility and strengthen police-community relations across the country.
Part of the security measures are immediate response to the complaints of the people, police presence down to the communities and aggressive coordination with local officials and stakeholders to combat crimes, particularly illegal drugs at the barangay level.
The strategy also includes the campaign against loose firearms and accounting of wanted persons.Â
Based on the latest data, around 2,000 people were arrested for possession of loose guns while almost 7,000 were seized since January this year.Â
On the other hand, more than 17,00 wanted persons have been arrested since January this year.