By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
MANILA — Over 800,000 individuals have been arrested since June last year in Metro Manila for violating various ordinances, according to National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) report released on Sunday.
Based on data given to the media by NCRPO chief Director Guillermo Eleazar, a total of 809,885 violators were apprehended from June 13 last year to March 10 this year with smoking ban offenders topping the list.
Police rounded up a total of 191,917 violators of the smoking ban as of Sunday morning, accounting for 23.70 percent of all the arrests.
Minors violating curfew hours had the next biggest number, although with a much lower figure of 48,763, or 6.02 percent of all those arrested all over Metro Manila in the said period.
The NCRPO has also apprehended 42,740 individuals, or 5.28 percent of the total arrests, for going in public places ‘half-naked’.
Those drinking in public places came next, with 37,890 rounded up, accounting for 4.68 percent of the total number of violators across the board.
The rest, 488,575 people, or 60.33 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 — 473,352 violators — 58.45 percent or more than half of all those arrested in Metro Manila.
The Eastern Police District (EPD) placed second with 153,594 persons (18.96 percent) apprehended, followed by Northern Police District (NPD) with 73,156 (9.03 percent), Manila Police District (MPD) with 62,607 (7.73 percent) and Southern Police District (SPD) with 47,176 (5.83 percent).
Eleazar said most of the violators were immediately released after paying a fine or due to humanitarian considerations.
Out of the apprehended individuals, 164,226 violators have been fined while 526,769 have been charged.
The implementation of city and municipal ordinances is part of the NCRPO’s peace and order strategy.
