PNP vows to break Christmas crime surge

MANILA, Philippines — Before the start of the Christmas holiday season, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde vowed to launch an intensified anti-crime campaign to finally break the traditional upsurge of crime incidents during the period.

Albayalde said the PNP has been trying in the past two years to suppress the increase in crime volume leading up to the yuletide season from September to December.

He said the PNP noticed a significant improvement in the peace and order situation during the holidays since 2016.

“For the past two years we did not see the trend (of increase in crime volume), particularly in crime against property,” he added.

In 2012, then interior secretary Jesse Robredo ordered the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) to initiate community-based crime prevention activities after statistics indicated a sharp increase in crime incidents in Metro Manila.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) admitted that many organized crime groups are based in the metropolis, engaging in various forms of heinous crimes, which always gain prominent media attention.

Robredo also ordered increased police visibility, deployment of motorcycle cops, walking the beat, checkpoints/chokepoints, deployment of secret marshals and night watch operations in coordination with all barangay officials in crime-prone areas.

The PNP NCRPO has strengthened the campaign against riding-in-tandem suspects through deployment of checkpoints and chokepoints in all critical areas in Metro Manila, vastly reducing cell phone snatching incidents.