Benhur Abalos, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (MANILA BULLETIN)

Former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Benhur Abalos has attested that there are fewer crimes under the Marcos administration compared to the previous Duterte administration. 

‘’I can say that our crime situation has significantly decreased under the Marcos administration. Mayroon tayong datos na magpapatunay diyan (We have the data to prove that),’’ Abalos said in a statement Tuesday, Oct. 29. 

Abalos gave these remarks after former president Rodrigo Duterte said during Monday's Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing that there was an increase in drug-related crimes under the present government. 

The ex-DILG pointed out that the Marcos administration has since focused on the rehabilitation aspect of the drug campaign. He notes that this has reduced the number of casualties in the drug campaign. 

‘’Ever since the current administration started, mas nagfocus na tayo sa rehabilitation ng mga drug dependents kaya naman nakita din natin na hindi na rin ganoon kadami ang namamatay sa ating kampanya laban sa ilegal na droga,’’ added Abalos. 

He noted that based on the data from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the total number of recorded crimes from July 1, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2024 was 324,368. 

This figure represented a 10.66 percent decrease from the 363,075 crimes recorded between December 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022, Abalos said. 

Abalos is a senatorial aspirant under the administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate.
 

He had supervision over the Philippine National Police (PNP) during his tenure as DILG head honcho.