(COURTESY OF SOCIAL WEATHER STATIONS)

An analysis of the 2022 surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that Filipinos victimized by common crimes and neighborhood fears are on the rise.

SWS vice president Gerardo Sandoval presented last year’s social weather based on its 2022 surveys at the annual SWS survey review held at the Asian Institute of Management on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Sandoval pointed out that the number of family members who said they were victims of common crimes has been “generally” decreasing, but slightly increased in 2022.

“We see here (surveys) a long-time series of families being victimized by any crime. It is either pick-pocketing or robbery, break-in, physical violence, or carnap,” he said.

“The trend has been going down, in general. Except that in the later surveys in 2022, we see here that there are indications that the trend has been increasing,” he added.

Sandoval also pointed out that neighborhood fears decreased in 2021 but increased in 2022.

“We asked them (respondents), do you agree or disagree with the following statements? People are usually afraid that robbers might break into their houses; people are usually afraid to walk in the streets at night because it is not safe; and there are already very many people addicted to banned drugs,” he said.

In the latest survey, SWS found that 60 percent fear burglary, 50 percent fear unsafe streets, while 40 percent fear drug addicts.

“We see that there was a decline, somewhat, in 2021. But just the same, the level of fear has remained high. But in the new surveys, we see that the level of fear among Filipinos has been increasing,” Sandoval said.

SWS conducted its latest survey from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022 with 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

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