PNP says 8 focus crimes 'dipped sharply' during community quarantine

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10) - The Philippine National Police (PNP) said crime incidents "dipped sharply” during the 84 days of community quarantine in the country.

The eight focus crimes are murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping of vehicles, and carnapping of motorcycles.

The PNP reported that such crime incidents dropped by 57 percent from 13,004 cases from Dec. 24, 2019 to March 16, 2020, the incidents plunged to 5,652 cases from March 17 to June 8.

“The quarantine did not deter the PNP from pursuing criminals as we conducted numerous operations all over the country,” PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the focus crime rate also went down in Luzon by 61 percent, from 6,922 cases to 2,720 recorded during the same period.

Likewise, it slipped down in the Visayas to 54 percent, from 3,344 to 1,546 incidents.

Mindanao also showed a decline in incidents by 49 percent, from 2,738 to 1,386.

In a related development, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield reported that a total of 193,779 quarantine violators have been warned, fined, and arrested. Of this number, 126,038 are from Luzon, 34,370 from the Visayas, and 33,371 from Mindanao.

The police also arrested 885 suspects for hoarding and profiteering of essential goods during the quarantine, while 15,119 public utility vehicle drivers were arrested.