MORE than seven in 10 adult Filipinos feel safe in their neighborhoods, but confidence drops significantly when it comes to walking alone at night and the risk of home break-ins, a survey conducted by independent pollster OCTA Research showed.
The Tugon ng Masa nationwide survey, conducted from July 4 to 11, 2026, with 1,200 respondents aged 18 and above, showed that 72 percent of Filipinos agree they feel safe in their neighborhood.
However, only 68 percent said they are not afraid to walk alone at night, and just over half — 54 percent — expressed confidence that they are not worried about robbers breaking into their homes.
The survey has a margin of error of ±3 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
Regional disparities
Visayas recorded the highest sense of neighborhood safety at 84 percent, while the National Capital Region (NCR) posted the lowest at 58 percent.
For the indicator “not afraid to walk alone at night,” the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Caraga recorded near-universal agreement at 100 percent and 98 percent, respectively, while NCR again ranked lowest at 48 percent.
Concerns over home break-ins were most pronounced in Davao Region, where only 23 percent said they were not worried — the lowest among all regions. Mimaropa recorded the highest confidence in home security at 92 percent, followed by CAR at 83 percent and Caraga at 82 percent.
Compared to March 2023, perceptions of safety have weakened across all three indicators nationwide.
Agreement that residents feel safe in their neighborhood dropped by 15 percentage points from 87 percent to 72 percent.
