After Metro Manila success, PNP to take anticrime plan to regions

MANILA, Philippines–Following a decline in the weekly crime rate in Metro Manila, the Philippine National Police is set to implement its new anticrime strategy in provinces in Central and Southern Luzon.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the PNP’s “Oplan Lambat Sibat” will be rolled out in Central and Southern Luzon, or the Calabarzon region, because of their proximity to Metro Manila where the anticrime strategy was first tested.

“Full implementation will begin this year. These regions were chosen because they are near the National Capital Region,” Roxas said.

Oplan Lambat Sibat is the PNP’s multipronged approach against crime consisting of intensified checkpoints, serving of arrest warrants on wanted persons, home checks on firearm owners, deployment of police to strategic areas, and intensified intelligence operations against criminal gangs.

From a weekly 1,000 crimes reported in Metro Manila in July, the PNP said it now recorded around 500 crimes a week since the program’s implementation.

Roxas said Central Luzon and Calabarzon were also chosen because of the high crime rates in the two regions in recent years.

“These regions have the densest populations after Metro Manila. Big populations usually translate to a high crime rate because there are more victims and business establishments to victimize,” he said.

In Central Luzon, Oplan Lambat Sibat will be implemented in the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales. In Southern Luzon, it will be enforced in Calabarzon which stands for the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

As in Metro Manila, a police commander’s failure to bring down the crime rate in his jurisdiction will result in his relief.

Fourteen police commanders were removed from their posts in the metropolis after they failed to curb crime in their respective jurisdictions.