By Cindy Ferrer/PNA
ILOILO CITY — Christmas celebration in Western Visayas was generally peaceful and orderly with no major incident recorded as crime volume went down significantly, police authorities said Tuesday evening.
In a press statement, Supt. Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) said that the crime volume went down to 684 incidents during the period December 16-25, or about 12. 97 percent lower than the 786 crimes recorded during the same period last year.
She also noted that the observance of the Catholic traditional nine-day Misa de Gallo in the region has been peaceful.
Meantime, Malong also noted a 32.48 percent drop in eight focus crimes — murder, homicide, robbery, theft, physical injuries, motornapping, carnapping and rape.
Bulk of the crimes was recorded in Iloilo province with 33 while the least was recorded in the island province of Guimaras with only five incidents.
Malong attributed the peaceful celebration of the Christmas season and decrease in crime incidents to the effective implementation of the operational concepts focusing on regular law enforcement activities, police presence, information operations, focused law enforcement operations, security measures, among others.
It can be recalled that the PRO-6 has deployed 12,101 force multipliers in the conduct of crime prevention and public safety operations in the region during the start of the Christmas season.
Malong recognized the overwhelming support of the various stakeholders and community for the peaceful Christmas season here.
She hoped to maintain the peace and order until the holidays are over or after the New Year’s revelry.
