By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/ PNA
MANILA — Common crimes in Metro Manila decreased in the fourth quarter of 2018, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Thursday.
NCRPO head, Director Guillermo Eleazar, said these include eight focus crimes such as murder, homicide, physical injury, rape (crimes against persons) and robbery, theft and carjacking of motor vehicles and motorcycles (crimes against property).
From 3,750 cases recorded in the third quarter of 2018, the figure dropped to 3,468 which is equivalent to 7.52 percent.
Crimes against persons declined by 4.01 percent from 1,423 to 1,366 cases.
Meanwhile, crimes against property decreased by 9.67 percent from 2,327 to 2,102 cases.
Theft of cars registered the highest drop at 31.48 percent from 54 to 37 cases, followed by murder at 14.86 percent from 175 to 149, robbery at 12.50 percent from 648 to 567, and rape cases at 7.86 percent from 280 to 258.
Eleazar said the NCRPO will continue their efforts to prevent more crimes and intensify the campaign against all forms of criminality.
In a related development, NCRPO also reported that close to 780,000 individuals have been arrested since June last year in Metro Manila for violating various ordinances.
Based on NCRPO records, a total of 775,645 violators were nabbed from June 13 last year to February 28 this year with smoking ban offenders topping the list.
Police rounded up a total of 186,247 violators of the smoking ban as of 5 a.m. on Thursday, accounting for 24.01 percent of all the arrests.
Minors violating curfew hours had the next biggest number, although with a much lower figure of 47,034, or 6.06 percent of all those arrested all over Metro Manila in the said period.
The NCRPO has also apprehended 41,715 individuals, or 5.38 percent of the total arrests, for going in public places ‘half-naked’.
Those drinking in public places came next, with 36,615 rounded up, accounting for 4.72 percent of the total number of violators across the board.
The rest, 464,034 people, or 59.83 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 — 453,558 violators — 58.47 percent or more than half of all those arrested in Metro Manila.
The Eastern Police District (EPD) placed second with 147,551 persons (19.02 percent) apprehended, followed by Northern Police District (NPD) with 68,863 (8.88 percent), Manila Police District (MPD) with 59,929 (7.73 percent) and Southern Police District (SPD) with 45,744 (5.90 percent).
Eleazar said most of the violators were immediately released after paying a fine or due to humanitarian considerations.
Out of the apprehended individuals, 157,773 violators have been fined while 114,340 have been charged while 11 violators are still detained at SPD.
The implementation of city and municipal ordinances is part of the NCRPO’s peace and order strategy.
