Various groups, including some administration critics, are conceding that crime volume dropped in the first two years of the Duterte administration compared to the last two years of the Aquino presidency.

Records show from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2018, the country’s total crime volume dropped by 20.4 percent vis-à-vis the figure recorded in the same period from 2014 to 2016.

With that big drop, it did not come as a surprise that the 2018 Gallup Global Law and Order Report ranked the Philippines in the upper half of 142 countries surveyed as to their respective people’s sense of security and experiences with crime.

The Gallup report placed the Philippines at par with countries like Croatia, Israel, Australia and South Korea. What the report means is that Filipinos felt safer under the Duterte administration than under Aquino’s presidency.

For this year, data culled by the Philippine National Police (PNP) from its regional offices showed that crime volume nationwide stood at 115,854 for the period of April to June, a 16.77 percent drop compared to the second quarter of 2017.

PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. attributed the continuing drop in the crime rate to the government’s nationwide campaign against illegal drugs, including shabu, marijuana and the so-called party drug like Ecstasy.

The thinking, of course, is that people with drug-addled brains are most likely to commit crimes against persons like homicide and physical injuries when high on narcotics.

Addicts are also known to rob or steal to fund their next hit, injection or puff of marijuana because their vice not only gives them highs when fed but hellish lows when on withdrawal.

As seen in the siege of Marawi City with terrorists taking shabu to embolden themselves and to combat sleep deprivation, drugs are also utilized by common criminals to steel themselves up before committing their dastardly deeds.

As narrated by Daily Tribune columnist and political expert Victor Avecilla during this paper’s livestreaming coverage of Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address, Rody’s pledge during a campaign event in De La Salle University in 2016 was to make the streets safe again.

That pledge was touched off by a student’s question on what tangible benefits they can expect from a Duterte administration cracking down on drugs and criminality in general.

Candidate Duterte told the La Salle student that if he would be elected president, young people like her, students and call center agents, can walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged or victimized by drug addicts.

On its third year, crime statistics are showing that Duterte is living up to his promise of bringing back peace and order, especially with the heretofore untouchable tambays or loiterers now fair game for questioning by policemen.

The campaign by PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde to rid his organization of misfits is also paying dividends as rogue policemen are either being weeded out or leaving the PNP on their own, mostly by going AWOL (absent without official leave).

On a final note, the proliferation of crime incidents as seen on social media cannot be in any way interpreted as an increase in crime volume. The proliferation of such videos only mean that more closed-circuit television cameras are now in use.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.