ALMOST half of the wanted criminals in Metro Manila have been arrested in the last few months with the Philippine National Police continuing to step up its anti-criminality campaign.
PNP Intelligence chief Director Generoso Cerbo Jr. said that 48 percent or 210 of the 440 most wanted personalities in the metropolis were apprehended from July to Sept. 13.
The period represented the beginning of the second phase of “Oplan Lambat Sibat,” the PNP’s statistics-driven campaign against criminals.
According to Cerbo, the 210 arrested criminals included nine who were in the top 10 list of the Manila Police District (MPD), Quezon City Police District (QCPD), Southern Police District (SPD), Eastern Police District (EPD) and Northern Police District (NPD). They were arrested between Sept. 7 and 13.
The nine were were identified as Mitzi Villanueva, the MPD’s ninth most wanted who was arrested for theft; Benjamin Tajan, seventh most wanted in the MPD’s list for qualified theft; Julius Miraso, the MPD’s third most wanted man on robbery charges;
Angelo Dazo, the QCPD’s most wanted man for murder and robbery charges; Wilfredo Santos, the QCPD’s fifth most wanted on a charge of frustrated homicide;
Rommel Alvarez, the SPD’s sixth most wanted on charges of robbery and attempted murder; Ramil Odtog, the SPD’s 10th most wanted on a case of murder;
Kier Sta. Ana, the EPD’s seventh most wanted for a robbery case; and Artemio Villegas, the NPD’s ninth most wanted man on illegal drugs charges.
In addition, the PNP said that robbery and theft cases went down to 260 cases from Sept. 7 to 13, compared to the previous week’s figure of 288 cases from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6.
Cerbo pointed out that the decrease was also due to the arrest of five of the nine most wanted criminals—mostly for their involvement in robbery and theft incidents.
“The PNP has stepped up police presence on streets and its anti-criminality campaigns with the goal of reducing crime and improving public safety,” he said.
Cerbo added that 45 percent or 200 criminals out of 440 personalities involved in illegal drugs have been arrested since the beginning of Oplan Lambat Sibat’s second phase in June.
The anti-criminality campaign which began in July 2014 uses focused and intelligence-driven operations against criminals and organized crime syndicates.