By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Over 1 million individuals have been arrested since June last year as the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) intensified the implementation of various ordinances.
Based on data given to the media by NCRPO chief, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, a total of 1,069,691 violators were apprehended from June 13 last year to May 31 this year, with smoking ban offenders topping the list.
Police rounded up a total of 247,710 violators of the smoking ban as of Friday morning, accounting for 23.16 percent of all the arrests all over Metro Manila during the period.
Minors violating curfew hours had the next biggest number, although with a much lower figure of 65,650, or 6.14 percent of all those arrested.
The NCRPO has also apprehended 56,593 individuals, or 5.29 percent of the total arrests, for going in public places ‘half-naked’.
Those drinking in public places came next, with 49,426 rounded up, accounting for 4.62 percent of the total number of violators.
The rest, 650,312 people, or 60.79 percent of the total arrests were violators of other city and municipal ordinances in the NCR.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) still had the biggest number of arrests — 594,762 violators — 55.60 percent or more than half of those arrested in Metro Manila.
The Eastern Police District (EPD) placed second with 222,433 persons (20.79percent) apprehended, followed by Northern Police District (NPD) with 104,826 (9.80 percent), Manila Police District (MPD) with 87,059 (8.14 percent) and Southern Police District (SPD) with 60,611 (5.67 percent).
Eleazar said most of the violators were immediately released after paying fines or due to humanitarian considerations.
Out of the apprehended individuals, 202,366 violators have been fined; 155,607 have been charged; 711,718 given warning; and 10 violators still under the custody of SPD as of 5 a.m. Thursday.
The implementation of city and municipal ordinances is part of the NCRPO’s peace and order strategy.
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