Crimes in PH dip by 17% in 1st half—PNP

MANILA, Philippines—Crime became scarcer in the Philippines during the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2011, according to the Philippine National Police.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. on Monday said in a statement that 68,154 crime incidents were recorded in the first semester of 2012, fewer by 17.42 percent, or 14,366, than the 80,520 recorded in the same period last year.

Carnap cases also went down in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year with 547 incidents recorded “from January to June 2012, showing a sharp drop of 25.98 percent from the 739 motor vehicles stolen during the same period in 2011,” Cerbo said.

Cerbo said these results are part of the accomplishment report that PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome will give to President Aquino during the 111th anniversary of the PNP on Friday, August 24.

Cerbo also said, “The PNP posted a high 34.17 percent crime solution efficiency rating during the first half of 2012, translated roughly to the solution of three out of every 10 crime cases reported with the arrest of the suspect and cases filed in court.”

The PNP arrested 16,702 wanted persons in the first half of the year while 131 other wanted persons surrendered and six others who resisted arrest were slain, Cerbo said.

Cerbo said 74 of the arrested wanted persons belonged to the list of Most Wanted Persons with rewards offered by authorities for their capture.

Police also neutralized “91 criminal gangs and rounded up 358 gang members in separate operations that also resulted in the confiscation of 90 assorted firearms, Cerbo said, adding that the PNP filed 137 cases against the arrested criminal gang members.

The PNP, according to Cerbo, confiscated 3,791 loose firearms from 2,561 unauthorized persons while another 80 loose firearms were confiscated from 231 motorcycle-riding suspects that were involved in street-crime activities.

Cerbo said police confiscated P1.788 billion worth of illegal drugs in 4,211 separate operations throughout the country, and 7,401 suspects were “rounded up by the PNP in drug buy-bust operations, raids and searches, and marijuana eradication operations in the countryside.”