ILOILO City – Crime volume in Iloilo province dropped in the past nine months compared to the same period in 2019.
Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) director, said the decline was registered as the province battled the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
IPPO’s data showed that from January to September this year, 3,450 crimes were recorded – 30 percent or 1,483 incidents lower than last year’s 4,933 cases.
This showed that the police were exerting “utmost efforts to be effective in crime prevention as they risk their lives to fight COVID-19,” he said.
Meanwhile, index crimes or crime against persons and property dropped by 17 percent or 184 incidents – from 646 last year to only 462 this year.
Index crimes are crimes against persons and properties. The IPPO is focusing on eight – murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motorcycle theft.
Homicide and murder cases, on the other hand, increased by almost 10 to 16 percent, respectively.
Gorero said the increases were alcohol-induced and mostly took place in remote areas that the police could not reach.
“These homicide and murder cases transpired in far-flung areas. Of these cases, 61 were committed with the use of firearms which ensued after heated arguments between the parties,” Gorero said.
The prolonged community quarantine appeared to be affecting people’s temper, as well as causing anxieties that can lead to unruly behavior.
To curb the increase in homicide and murder cases, the province’s top cop called on police chiefs in the 42 towns and Passi City to reach out to village officials in far-flung areas to mobilize tanods.
Gorero hopes crime incidents will further decrease with the implementation of the “Pulis sa Barangay” program of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
The police, he said, will be the peacekeepers in every barangays across Western Visayas and will help barangay officials in case of calamity and incidents. To date, the PRO-6 had deployed 3,684 police personnel to 4,051 barangays in Western Visayas and established 4,050 peacekeeping desks./PN
