Overall crime rate down, Palace points out

Scene of the Crime Operatives and Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit investigators are at the scene where five suspected members of the Lintag car theft and bank robbery group are killed after exchanging gunfire with members of the police along a portion of Congressional Avenue in Quezon City. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/ INQUIRER

DRUG-RELATED killings may be on the rise but total reported crimes across the country have dropped by 10 percent, a Malacañang spokesperson said on Sunday.

“The government’s campaign against illegal drugs and crimes continues to reap positive results one month after President Duterte occupied Malacañang,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said over state-run dzRB radio.

“This is proof that a fearless solution and urgent action, which the President is known to advocate, are not only a campaign slogan. It’s a change that Filipinos now feel wherever they are, even in the far-flung communities where illegal drugs and crime exist,” he said.

Citing Philippine National Police statistics, Andanar said recorded crime incidence throughout the country was 50,817 last July, or 5,522 fewer than the 56,399 incidents reported in the same period in 2015.

Plummeted

According to Andanar, index crimes—or crimes against persons and property—plummeted to 11,800 in July, or a 31 percent decrease from 17,105 cases reported in the same month last year.

During the same period, Andanar said crimes against property, such as theft and robbery, went down by 40 percent, from 11,106 incidents to 4,476.

The data, however, provided by PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos did not include the number of individuals that died during police operations and vigilante killings stemming from Mr. Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs. Marlon Ramos