ABALOS: INDEX CRIMES DECREASED SIGNIFICANTLY

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said on Friday that the peace and order situation in the country has improved significantly under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

He said that index crime volume decreased from 196,519 during the pre-pandemic period of July 1, 2016, to April 21, 2018, to 71,544 from July 1, 2022, to April 21, 2024.

Index crimes are crimes considered serious and occurring with sufficient frequency and regularity that they are considered an index to the crime situation in a given area.

Abalos, who is also the National Peace and Order Council chairman, further reported that peace and order indicators (POI) decreased during the same period from 541,917 to 371,801.

POI classification includes crimes that reflect the true crime picture and the peace and order situation of a community.

He added that the average monthly crime rate also went down for the same period, from 21.92 percent to 15.04 percent.

Focus crimes such as theft, physical injury, robbery, rape, murder, car theft and homicide also declined from 196,420 to 71,133, or a 63.79 percent decrease.

Furthermore, Abalos reported that the volume of non-index crime, or those illegal acts usually covered by special laws, such as gambling, or by local ordinances like going shirtless and drinking in public, plunged for the same period from 345,398 to 300,257.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, recorded a 98.88 percent total crime clearance efficiency from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

This translates to a 0.32 percent increase from the crime clearance efficiency report recorded from October 2021 to December 2022.

Further, the PNP noted an 82.69 percent total crime solution efficiency from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, or an increase of 0.62 percent compared to figures reported from October 2021 to December 2022.

In terms of the index crime volume, the PNP recorded 48,587 cases from January 2023 to March 2024, which is 4,240, or 8.02 percent, lower than the 52,827 cases recorded from October 2021 to December 2022.

Non-index crime, on the other hand, was recorded at 202,377 from January 2023 to March 2024, or 11,546, or 5.37 percent, lower than the 214,923 cases recorded from October 2021 to December 2022.

Abalos credited the improved peace and order situation in the country to the sustained crime prevention programs, public safety initiatives and convergent efforts of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the PNP.

2024-04-26T16:10:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd