RP safe for all foreigners, says PNP chief

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza yesterday assured all foreign visitors of their safety while in the country.

The PNP chief made the assurance after published reports quoted PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina as urging foreign businessmen and tourists to take elaborate and expensive precautions while in the country.

"We don’t really need such kind of elaborate security here in the Philippines. Manila is a safe city by international standards. It is even safer than other cities in Asia, Europe or even the United States," Mendoza stressed.

Mendoza maintained that the crime situation in the country remains at a very manageable level and has improved over the years.

"Obviously, the PNP spokesman was grossly misquoted and some statements were taken out of context," Mendoza clarified.

Citing statistics, Mendoza said the national crime trend steadily declined by 10.6 percent over the last five years.

Kidnapping cases also went down during the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period last year, he said.

"Except for the Burnham couple who are still being held hostage by a bandit group in southern Philippines, based on police records, foreigners are not among the typical targets of kidnappers," Mendoza said in a press statement.

Espina also claimed he was "grossly misquoted" about his supposed recommendations to foreigners to hire bodyguards or use bullet-proof cars.

"A foreign news agency reporter posed a hypothetical situation that elicited an appropriate hypothetical response," Espina explained.

He added that the twists and slants in published news stories came as a total surprise as he denied ever making such suggestions in the forum.

"There were about 24 mediamen from various foreign news agencies in the forum who were able to grasp the meat of the discussion. Unfortunately, except for one," Espina said.