The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Tuesday credited the administration’s bloody war on drugs for a 25-percent drop in the crime rate between January and June this year compared to the same period in 2017.
Data from the NCRPO showed that from January to June this year, there were 6,881 incidents of eight focus crimes which include homicide, murder, physical injuries and rape. This was a decrease compared to 9,183 incidents recorded during the same period in 2017.
In a statement, the NCRPO reiterated its oft-repeated talking point that drug users were often behind crimes, whether as a result of being “high” or to fund their vice.
“To some extent, they are forced to steal [from] shops and innocent people on the streets, barge into homes, [and in the] worst cases, assault, hurt and even kill their victims to get money to buy illegal drugs,” it said.
Since the controversial drug war began in July 2016, Metro Manila police have arrested 48,886 drug users and pushers, killed 1,590 others and accepted the surrender of 233,896 drug suspects.
Rights group airs concern
But an official of human rights group, Karapatan, told the Inquirer that “numerous questions were left unanswered” by the NCRPO data.
“Such comments or observations of the Philippine National Police still can’t be used to justify the thousands of reported cases of extrajudicial killings in relation to the war on drugs,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general.
“In light of the Duterte government’s stubborn and arrogant refusal to subject its forces to [an independent investigation], it becomes more increasingly suspect that human rights and civil liberties are indeed violated in the course of these police operations,” she added.
The breakdown of the NCRPO statistics showed an across-the-board decrease in crime incidents, with murder recording the biggest decline: 54 percent from 832 incidents in the first half of 2017 to 381 this year.
Homicide also went down by 45 percent (from 242 cases to 134), physical injuries by 28 percent (2,198 to 1,591), rape by 11 percent (483 to 429) and robbery by 16 percent (1,512 to 1,266).