Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Harry Roque YANCY LIM/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
The recent survey showing a drop in crimes against property reflects the success of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign, Malacañang said Saturday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque claimed that the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey proves that Metro Manila residents feel safer “because of fewer drug addicts” in neighborhoods.
“These survey findings which reflects the sentiments of the public is a clear validation of the success of the Duterte administration’s anti-crime and anti-drug campaigns where residents of Metro Manila feel safer in the streets because of fewer addicts in the neighborhoods,” Roque said in an interview in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
The SWS poll shows the average rate of families who fell victim to common crimes in the country declined from 6.8 in 2016 to a “record-low” of 6.1 percent in 2017.
READ: SWS: Victims of common crimes at ‘record-low’ 6.1% in 2017
Roque said that the survey was a “big boost” to the morale of the police and vowed that the “authorities continue to work double time to ensure the safety of the public in all parts of the country.”
Despite the absence of data to back its claims, authorities often linked the Duterte administration’s brutal crackdown against illegal drugs to the supposed decrease in criminal activities.
Human rights activists, however, argued that such hardline stance would not solve incidence of crimes in the long-term.
According to Philippine National Police, about 4,000 suspected drug criminals have been killed since the campaign launched in 2016. /jpv