Car theft down by 50 percent—police

MANILA, Philippines—Cases of car theft in the Philippines has gone down by more than 50 percent this year compared to last year’s, Highway Patrol Group (HPG) spokesman Superintendent Edwin Butacan told reporters at Camp Crame on Monday.

Butacan said that carjacking has decreased by 54.45 percent, adding that “from January to June 2010 we had 1,010 cases against only 460 cases from January to June of 2011.”

The HPG spokesman said that they had validated these cases of car theft meaning “when we say validated, (these were) confirmed. These were the cases that were under the provision of anti-carnapping law (wherein the) vehicles were seized from the victims, and not rented or borrowed and not returned.”

“We have neutralized 28 carnapping groups, arrested 76 carnappers and there were 10 suspects killed in encounters from July 2010 to July 2011,” Butacan said. He added that the HPG was now in pursuit of two carjacking groups.

Butacan said that this was the biggest decrease in car theft he has experienced in his 13 years of being with the HPG. He disclosed that 2002 was the peak year with the HPG recording around six cases a day.

The HPG report for the first semester of 2011 showed that the National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest rate of car theft cases with 83 percent of the total number of incidents nationwide. Region 4A and 3 came second and third, respectively.

In NCR, Quezon City was shown to have the most number of incidents leveling 28 percent of the entire number of cases that transpired in the region, followed by Manila with 18 percent, and Makati and Caloocan with 7 percent.

In relation to recent car theft cases in the metropolis, Butacan advised the public not to resist when faced with car thieves, saying “your life is worth more than your car.”