President Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs and criminality has pulled down crime rates nationwide, the Police Regional Office 11 revealed Wednesday.
In a press conference, PRO 11 Regional Director PC/Supt. Manuel Gaerlan said index crimes in Davao Region went down by 42 percent – from 33,886 incidents in January to December 2015 to 25,409 incidents during the same period in 2016.
Index crime, as defined by the Philippine National Police (PNP), are crimes against persons such as rape, murder, and homicide, and crimes against property such as robbery, and theft.
Gaerlan said theft cases saw the most significant decrease of 57.85 percent – from 4923 cases in 2015 to 2,075 in 2016.
He added that the homicide incident dropped by 44.85 percent from 194 to 107 while physical injury injuries decreased by 44.17 percent from 2,640 to 1,474.
Meanwhile, PRO 11 has recorded a 36.86 percent drop in robbery incidents from 1,690 to 1,067 and tallied a 12.01 percent decline in rape incident from 608 last 2015 to 535 in 2016.
The campaign on illicit drugs, according to Gaerlan, turned out to have a significant effect on crime incidents.
He added that the police officials are now more aggressive in the campaign against illicit drugs because they believe that the President is willing to finish the campaign until the end of the term.
It can be recalled that President Duterte has declared a bloody war against drug lords and suspected criminals to achieve his campaign promise of suppressing crime and illegal narcotics.
“Personally, hindi ko ineexpect na ganito yung pagbaba ng crime rates, 44%, ngayon lang ako nakakita ng ganito na pagbaba,” Gaerlan said.
He added that President Duterte needs the support of the public in the campaign.
“Hindi pwede tumigil ang mga pulis sa campaign at baka bumalik sila [criminals] sa dating gawi,” Gaerlan said, adding that he ordered his police officers and personnel to sustain and level up the campaign on illegal drugs.
However, critics have charged that the police are mainly killing poor people in the slums while wealthy and influential suspects have been spared.
Gaerlan stated that his officers were prepared to defend themselves against the poor, wealthy, and influential people, as they wage President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
“Hindi naman namin pinipili kung sino ang ‘papatayin,’ hindi ganoon ang operations namin,” he explained.
He added that they have also investigated several police officers who were allegedly found positive in using illegal narcotics.
“Hindi mo naman pwedeng sabihinng mahirap ang mga pulis – may regular na sweldo nga sila,” Gaerlan said, adding that the police officials found guilty of using illegal drugs are treated as criminals.
Gaerlan insisted that police only kill suspects in self-defense, and have said others were murdered by crime gangs trying to silence them.
“Remember, we have given all the necessary warnings, kulang na lang lumuhod na kaming mga pulis na nagmamakaawa na tigilan na ang bisyo nila,” Gaerlan added.
