Index crimes in the region plunged 56.87% from 6,465 at the start of President Duterte’s term in 2016 to 2,788 in 2019.
And the Police Regional Office XI attributed the decline to the success of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, which was described by Vice President Leni Robredo as a “massive failure.”
Speaking in yesterday’s AFP-PNP press briefing held at The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Maj. Eudisan Gultiano, the newly designated spokesperson of PRO XI, said they are disheartened by the report of the vice president giving the administration’s campaign a score of 1 out of 100.
“Because of the illegal drugs campaign, it reduced the index crimes committed in the region,” Gultiano said. “So, we cant say that it is a massive failure,” she added.
Since the start of the reinforced campaign against illegal drugs in 2016, Gultiano said there were 5,678 operations conducted in the region, resulting in the deaths of 290 suspects and the arrest of 6,456 others. Also, different police units conducted tokhang activities in 78,304 households.
Based on the records of the Philippine National Police, 55 officers were killed on duty in different operations against illegal drugs.
Meanwhile, in the region, authorities seized 11,017.44 grams of shabu and 1,368,443.86 grams of marijuana, 39,000 grams of cocaine since 2014. During the same period, they also confiscated 347 firearms and 34 explosives.
In 2014, the index crime rate in the region was 15,710. This dropped to 6,465 in 2016, then 5,020 incidents in 2017, and 3,791 in 2018.
Index crimes involve crimes against persons (such as murder, homicide, physical injury, and rape) and property (such as robbery, theft, carnapping/carjacking, and cattle rustling).
“It is only an indication that the national anti-illegal drugs campaign is successful,” she said.
In his statement, PRO XI regional director, Brig. Gen. Filmore Escobal, said VP Robredo’s public relation bombshell was the “massive failure.”
“Her statement proves that VP Robredo did not fully apprehend the outcome of the relentless anti-illegal drugs campaign in the country, such as the significant reduction of index crimes,” Escobal said.
Also, the campaign against illegal drugs has a high approval rating of the Filipinos with an average of 82% based on the latest 2019 SWS survey.
President Duterte described Robredo as a “collosal blunder.”
“It is unfortunate that our good VP failed to recognize the efforts of the police officers who have sacrificed even their own lives just to stop the proliferation, use, and trade of illegal drugs,” Escobal added.
