Arrests and drug-related cases fell with 283 arrests and 159 cases from January to July this year compared to last year’s 517 arrests and 322 cases

The Philippine National Police (PNP) backtracked on its earlier pronouncement and said Angeles City in Pampanga is one of the safest cities in the country with a low crime rate.

The police issued the clarification after Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan cried foul over its earlier report identifying the city as among the localities with the highest crime and drug incidents. It now claims Angeles is the second city with the lowest crime rate at 27.10 percent, following Davao City at 25.96 percent. Ormoc, Cotabato and Puerto Princesa were third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I am relieved that the PNP immediately corrected itself, because figures of the local police say otherwise,” Pamintuan said, commenting on the correction by the PNP.

The mayor said the city’s police have reported a reduction in index crimes to 324 cases in July this year from the 795 cases recorded in 2017. Murder also fell 22.22 percent year-on-year as of end July 2018 while robbery cases dropped 31.45 percent, he added.

I am relieved that the PNP immediately corrected itself, because figures of the local police say otherwise.

Arrests and drug-related cases fell with 283 arrests and 159 cases from January to July this year compared to last year’s 517 arrests and 322 cases.

PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana had apologized for the error, noting that the PNP is “committed to transparency and the truth.”

Meanwhile, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) rescued 78 women from a bar in Angeles that is also allegedly used as fronts for prostitution Saturday night.

Atty. Elizaldo Beltran, assistant regional chief of NBI-Central Luzon, said surveillance conducted against the bar showed that its male patrons are reportedly allowed to “take home” girls for sex after paying a P3,000 “bar fine.”

The NBI arrested the bar’s cashier and a pimp after one of its agents posed as a customer and paid for the “extra service” using a marked money.

The police are now looking for two Koreans and live-in partner of one of the suspects who are believed to be the owners of the bar.