(Eagle News) – Crime incidents in the country dipped 61% during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period, with Luzon registering the biggest reduction in the number of cases.
In a statement, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said that crime incidents dropped from 8,284 incidents from January to March of this year, down to 3,220 incidents on the past 55 days of ECQ.
“This crime trend is more noticeable in Luzon that posted a 66% drop, while Visayas and Mindanao recorded 58% and 51% rates of decline, respectively”, the PNP statement said.
PNP Chief Archie Gamboa said that they are seeing significantly fewer index crimes among the eight crime categories that are the focus of police operations.
Instead, “the traditional crime landscape has drastically shifted to non-index crime incidents during the ECQ period with more reported criminal activity with the use of access devices and cyberspace to commit fraud, estafa, extortion, trafficking in persons, child abuse; and circulation of disinformation and fake news.”
– PNP must remain vigilant despite drop in crime rate –
In a separate statement, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported that during the ECQ, “theft still has the most cases with 865 incidents but still much lower compared to the data gathered during the earlier months prior to the ECQ which is 2,752.”
The same trend was also observed in other crimes such as murder, homicide, physical injury, and rape.
On the other hand, “curfew violations and disobedience tallied a total of 167,278 violators from March 17 – May 9, 2020. Majority of these cases are from Luzon with 106,926 followed by Mindanao 30,533 and Visayas with 29,819.”
Hence, DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año directed the PNP to “maintain vigilance”, in view of the pending transition of several areas to general community quarantine (GCQ), as “people might see the lifting of ECQ in some areas as an opportunity to go back to normal and begin committing crimes.”
Año stressed that PNP checkpoints as well as issuance of quarantine passes by LGUs will continue during the GCQ.
“[M]ovement is still limited and only those allowed to work in permitted industries and accessing essential services are allowed to go out”, Año said in the statement.
Eagle News Service