1.8 million Pinoys fell victim to petty crimes — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated 1.8 million Filipinos have been victimized by common crimes in the second half of 2018, the highest recorded by Social Weather Stations (SWS) last year.

The fourth quarter survey – conducted from Dec. 16 to 19 with the results released late Friday – showed 7.6 percent of Filipino families reporting at least one member who experienced common crimes in the past six months.

It is higher than the 6.1 percent or 1.4 million who experienced common crimes between April to September 2018 and the 5.3 percent or 1.2 million recorded in the first half of 2018.

Common crimes include pickpocket or robbery of personal property, break-ins, carjacking and physical violence.

Based on the survey, most of the cases were identified as street robberies, increasing from 4.6 percent or 1.1 million from the period April to September 2018 to 5.2 percent or 1.2 million in the second half of last year.

Cases of break-ins and physical assault also rose nationwide, while carjacking of any type of motor vehicle went down from an estimated 50,000 cases to around 9,000.

Meanwhile, fear of burglary and unsafe streets also sharply increased in the recent survey.

Sixty-one percent of the respondents said they fear falling victim to burglars, up nine points from the 52 percent recorded in September 2018.

Fear of unsafe streets increased from 46 percent to 54 percent.

On the other hand, fear of presence of drug addicts slightly dropped from 41 percent to 39 percent.

Across areas, fear of burglary and presence of drug addicts in the neighborhood are highest in Metro Manila, followed by those in the Visayas, rest of Luzon and Mindanao.

Fear of unsafe streets is highest in the Visayas, followed by Metro Manila, rest of Luzon and Mindanao.

The survey had 1,440 respondents and an error margin of +/- 2.6 percent for nationwide scores.

SWS, which has been asking respondents whether any household members became a victim of a common crime since 1989, said its victimization data is often higher than the number of crimes actually reported to the police.

Assurance

The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured the public it will continue to intensify its anti-criminality campaign following the recent SWS survey.

While the statistics show that the number of street crimes is actually decreasing, the PNP still took note of and understood the feelings of Filipinos, police spokesman Senior Supt. Bernard Banac said.

“The PNP assures the public that we shall vigorously enforce the law, intensify security and checkpoint operations and prevent crimes from happening to keep the peace and order in our land with the utmost respect for human rights and the value of life, and with the active support of the people,” Banac said.

Banac said there actually has been a steady decline in the number of common crimes reported to police, given the intensified law enforcement and anti-illegal drug operations. 

He said total crime statistics for 2018 went down to 473,000 incidents from 520,000 the previous year, contrary to the SWS survey.

“The variance may be attributed to the unreported incidents. We can say that more than 473,000 families may have been affected but the 1.8-million estimate is still way too high,” he added. 

National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Guillermo Eleazar said the “perception” of the increase in the number of street crimes is near negligible and is not alarming. 

He said crime statistics have been falling by over half in actual reported and investigated incidents. 

Still, the SWS survey could prove to be a challenge for the police force to further improve their fight against criminality, Eleazar said. – With Romina Cabrera