BY MARTIN A. SADONGDONG
The country’s crime rate has gone down by 49 percent during the five-month long community quarantine which President Duterte had imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, the Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID Shield bared Friday.
Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, commander of JTF COVID Shield, said the nationwide average number of “focus crimes” significantly reduced in the 150-days of the lockdown compared to the same period before the quarantine took effect on March 16.
From 25,200 criminal activities from October 19 to March 16, the number of crimes was reduced to 12,847 from March 17 to August 13, according to data from JTF COVID Shield.
This translated to a decrease in the daily record of the eight focus crimes – namely murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, car theft, and motorcycle theft – from 168 to 86.
“Our Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), General Archie Gamboa also made sure that our regular law enforcement functions will not be sacrificed even if a number of police personnel were deployed to perform duties related to the prevention of the spread of the COVID-19,” Eleazar said.
Visayas region registered the highest reduction rate at 52 percent or from 6,447 crimes to 3,115 crimes.
Meanwhile, Luzon has 49-percent crime reduction or from 13,410 to 6,778; while Mindanao has 44-percent crime reduction or from 5,313 to 2,954.
Car theft (from 182 to 53 cases) and motorcycle theft (from 1,615 to 498 cases), had the biggest decline among eight focus crimes at 71 percent and 69 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, robbery cases dropped by 63 percent or from 3,874 to 1,431 cases, while theft cases were reduced by 62 percent or from 8,334 to 3,177.
Cases of Physical Injury went down by 38 percent or from 4,357 to 2,690; rape cases by 28 percent or from 3,584 to 2,572; homicide by 28 percent or from 663 to 477; and murder cases by 25 percent or from 2,591 to 1,949.
Eleazar attributed the decline in the crime rate to the visibility of policemen and the active participation of local authorities for the enforcement of the quarantine rules.
“While the community quarantine has caused a lesser opportunity for the criminal elements to strike, your PNP made sure that those who are allowed to go out to work and buy essential goods are also protected with our police visibility and strategic community deployment,” Eleazar noted.
The country has one of the longest lockdowns in the world.
