BY AARON RECUENCO
The 2020 Global Law and Order Report that includes the Philippines in the list of countries with good peace and order and positive perception on the police is due to the aggressive campaign against illegal drugs and pro-active anti-crime strategies that include anti-tambay (vagrancy) operations, a police official said on Thursday.
Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, deputy chief for Administration of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the Philippines has actually the same feat in 2019 when the same Global Law and Order Report also included the country in the list with a high score of 84/100.
“All along, President Duterte was right when he said that the illegal drugs problem is the root cause of most of the crimes in the country. Through (the) aggressive drug war, we were able to reduce the nationwide index crime by 62% in the first 42 months of his administration,” said Eleazar.
Gallup’s Global Law and Order report is a worldwide gauge of people’s sense of personal security and their personal experiences with crime and law enforcement. Those who were surveyed in the Philippines also have positive perceptions of the PNP and other law enforcement agencies.
Eleazar said the 2019 and 2020 Gallup Reports were an improvement of the 2017 and 2018 Reports wherein the Philippines scored 82.
Aside from sweeping the streets of drug pushers and users, Eleazar said the improved score of the Philippines in the past two years can also be attributed to the aggressive implementation of local ordinances against those hanging out on the streets especially during nighttime particularly in Metro Manila and other urban areas. (Aaron Recuenco)
