PNP sees sharp drop of murder cases in PH

FILE PHOTO: Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., PNP chief. (Photo from the Facebook page of the Office of the Chief PNP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday said the total number of murders in the country had shown a 40 percent drop from 2018 to 2022.

“Allow me to cite a five-year comparative data of murder cases that showed a sharp decrease of 40.01 percent,” PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said in a press briefing.

Azurin said the trend of murder cases had shown a consistent downward pattern: from 7,121 in 2018, 6,310 in 2019, 5,490 in 2020, 4,853 in 2021, and 4,272 in 2022.

“Despite the decreasing number of murder cases over the years, there is still so much to be done in order to prevent these murder cases,” he said.

Azurin released the data in light of the reported murders of several local chief executives this year.

Meanwhile, Azurin also said that a total of 6,268 loose firearms were recovered from January 1 to March 12, 2023.

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JPV