THE country’s crime rate dropped by 20 percent in the past six months, based on figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro on Monday shared the PNP statistics when asked during a press briefing if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued any directive to address the recent killings, including the death of an American marine biologist in Negros Oriental on July 12.
Two motorcycle riders were also killed separately in Caloocan City and Cavite two weeks ago, while a pro-Marcos vlogger was shot dead on July 17 in Caloocan City.
“The PNP has just reported that the crime rate declined by 20.6 percent — from 9,506 cases from January 6 to April 5 to 7,883 cases from April 6 to July 4,” Castro said.
Asked to comment on observations in social media that the people felt less safe now than during the previous administration, Castro replied, “Is that the perception of other people?”
“If that is the perception of other people, we see a different thing based on the data,” she said.
Castro said some of the killings were highlighted because these were reported in the media. “But overall, in the entire Philippines, there are areas, as reported also by the PNP, which have no crime [incident].”
Five suspects have been charged with robbery with homicide in connection with the killing of marine biologist Dr. Kent Carpenter in Sibulan, Negros Oriental.
Alicia “Mima Alicia” Lipata, 24, was shot dead by two armed men who entered her home in Tierra Nova Subdivision in Caloocan on July 17.
Motorcycle riders Fabio Norberte Jr. and Ren Ren De Laviga were allegedly killed by passengers they had accepted through motorcycle taxi bookings.
Norberte, 46, was a single father and the sole caregiver of his three-year-old son, Anghel, who has autism. The child had lost his mother when he was barely a month old.
De Laviga, 35, was allegedly robbed and shot by a passenger who had booked a trip from Tondo, Manila, to Carmona City, Cavite, on July 9. His death was initially reported as a possible hit-and-run case, but investigators later recovered an empty shell casing and an unfired bullet from the scene.
