ILOILO CITY – The Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 on Sunday, July 2, revealed a significant improvement in various anti-criminality programs in the Western Visayas region.
Police Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor, acting PRO-6 director, said the combined accomplishment rate increased with operations conducted by cops in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod from Jan. 1 to June 30.
“We are committing ourselves and will utilize all available resources to champion our anti-criminality campaign,” said Villaflor in a statement.
The PRO-6 reported an increase in the number of wanted persons arrested.
Six-hundred sixty-seven most wanted persons were nabbed compared to the same period last year with 488, an increase of 36.68 percent. From 2,485 in the first six months in 2022, 2,670 other wanted persons were arrested this year, for a 7.44 percent increase.
In the campaign against illegal drugs, the number of arrests and operations conducted increased by 48.48 and 36.39 percent, respectively.
PRO-6 said from 988 persons arrested last year, there were 1,467 persons arrested this year. The number of operations also went up from 797 to 1,087.
In the campaign against illegal firearms, 289 guns were seized this year from 250 a year ago, a 15.6 percent increase.
There were more firearms surrendered, from 1,643 in January to June 2022 to 1,846 in the first six months this year for a 12.36 percent increase.
More illegal gamblers were nabbed, from 2,462 last year to 2,656 this year, up 7.88 percent.
There were also gains in operations against communist insurgency, illegal fishing, and illegal logging.