After slide in list of safe cities: Labella vows to make city safer

CEBU, Philippines — With Cebu City sliding down in the ranks of Safest Cities for 2020, Mayor Edgardo Labella said he will take this as a challenge to improve the city’s safety.

The recent statistics from survey-powered, online database Numbeo showed that the capital of Cebu Province in Central Visayas was ranked 259th among the Safest Cities in the World, after getting a Safety Index Score of 48.58.

“No excuses. I’ve been mayor for six months. We take it as a challenge to improve, especially we will have the whole year to take our active involvement in the peace and order,” said Labella.

In 2019, the city’s rank was at 190.

According to Numbeo, the city has also slid down in the ranks among cities in Asia and Southeast Asia; Cebu City slid down to 66th rank from the 55th rank in the Safest Cities in Asia, placing just after Pattaya in Thailand and down to 12th rank from ninth rank in the Safest Cities in Southeast Asia.

Also showed in Numbeo’s records was Cebu City’s Safety Index Rate which has decreased from 53.87 in 2019 to 48.58 in 2020.

As the city’s Safety Index Rate decreased, Numbeo’s data revealed that its Crime Index Rate has increased by 5.29 points, which is from 46.13 in 2019 to 51.42 in 2020.

Numbeo said that the higher the Safety Index Rate, the safer the area.

Labella said he already apprised Cebu City Police Office director, Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, who has been in office for less than a month. The mayor said Soriano has committed that he will be relentless in all forms of criminality in the city.

“We will work together on this. He has the full support of the city government of Cebu,” said Labella.

“I think so far we have done a good job in fighting criminality. During our term now since we started… We are warning those people involved in criminality that we will never compromise and we will have a very hard stance, especially in this fight against illegal drugs,” he added. (FREEMAN)