INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Theft, rape and physical injury topped the most prevalent crimes since the start of the aministration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., said the Philippine National Police (PNP).
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. on Monday said these three focus crimes were the most frequently recorded in the last six months–between July 2022 and January 7, 2023.
He further noted that the volume of theft incidents recorded by the PNP rose from 6,304 in July 2021 to January 7, 2022, to 6,682 in July 2022 to January 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, despite being considered among the most prevalent focus crimes, the incidence of rape and physical injury dipped from 5,192 to 3,762 incidents and 2,681 to 2,608 incidents, respectively.
“The past six months since July 2022 saw the country’s peace and order indicator (POI) dropping by 6.37 percent or 7,178 incidents from 112,746 in 2021 to only 105,568 in 2022,” Azurin also pointed out in a press briefing.
The POI in Luzon declined by 7.35 percent or 4,532 incidents and Mindanao by 12.29 percent or 3,791 incidents, while it increased in Visayas by 5.65 percent or 1,145 incidents, he added.
(Graphs from Philippine National Police)
Azurin said the volume of index crimes in the country also decreased by 8.03 percent or 1,701 incidents in the last six months.
He noted that there was an observed decline in all regions – Luzon by 8.34 percent or 1,031 incidents, Visayas by 6.28 percent or 283 incidents and Mindanao by 8.71 percent or 387 incidents.
Index crimes, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, are crimes that the PNP deemed “serious in nature” as they frequently occur to the extent of these being a tell-tale sign of how crime-ridden an area is.
Among those considered as index crimes are murder, homicide, physical injury, car theft, robbery, theft and rape.
Azurin said the volume of non-index crimes in the country similarly went down by 5.98 percent or 5,477 cases. The decrease was seen in Luzon and Mindanao by 7.09 percent or 3,501 incidents and 12.9 percent or 3,404 incidents, respectively.
But he said that an uptick was recorded in Visayas, which climbed by 9.05 percent or 1,428 cases in the past six months.
Non-index crimes refer to violations of special laws, including reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property or physical injury, violations against women and children, illegal possession of firearms and drugs, illegal logging, lasciviousness, direct assault and other crimes that do not fall under the umbrella of index crimes.
