Lawmakers grill PNP for lack of preparedness, confusing data
PNP chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde entertains questions from members of the House Committee on Appropriations during the DILG’s budget hearing on Tuesday. INQUIRER.net photo / Gabriel Pabico Lalu
Members of the House Committee on Appropriations have scolded the Philippine National Police (PNP) for not being prepared, after they were questioned about claims that Naga City in Camarines Sur has one of the highest crime rates and crime volume in the country.
“May we request the Chief PNP to ask the regional director to submit a report, parang hindi kayo ready eh [looks like you are not ready],” Committee Vice Chair Luisa Cuaresma said during the budget hearing of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday.
Before Cuaresma’s remark, Ako Bicol Representative Alfredo Garbin asked the PNP for the official data regarding claims and reports that Naga is ranked top five or six in terms of crime volume.
PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde referred the question to Police Regional Office-5 (PRO-5) Director Arnel Escobal, on grounds that he would be more knowledgeable of the issues within his jurisdiction.
However, Escobal said that he has no data as of the moment, and was only referring to the numbers from the Directorate and Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).
“Your honors, I am sorry I have no data here, it was during the interview of our PIO […] because they are the ones who have the data for the crime rates and crime volume nationwide,” Escobal explained.
“For Bicol region, it was the findings of the DIDM as reported by the PIO,” he added.
Garbin claimed that Naga is sixth in crime rate, but the data excludes cities from the National Capital Region (NCR). With NCR cities included, it would supposedly rank 16th out of 36 cities.
“Naga City’s monthly crime rate for the first half of the year was 202.80. Now it says that if Metro Manila cities were included in the ranking, however, Naga, with the crime volume of 2,879 would rank only 16th out of 36 cities,” the lawmaker said.
“So parang mali-mali ho ‘yong binibigay nating impormasyon, correct me if kung mali ho ‘yong data na binigay ko sa inyo [Looks like we are giving wrong information, correct me if I am giving you wrong data]?” he asked.
Albayalde confirmed the data afterwards. He added that they will provide a report to the House committee which proves that Naga has the highest average monthly crime rate.
“It’s correct your honor,” Albayalde said in reply to Garbin. “That includes probably the cities of NCR your honor. Excluding the cities from NCR, it [Naga] will be number six, as far as crime volume is concerned.”
“Your honor, I’ll be submitting a statistics, I just don’t have it with me, that shows that outside Metro Manila, or even including Metro Manila, highest average monthly crime rate […] I can submit to you later on,” Albayalde said. /jpv
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