Local exec welcomes PNP correction of crimes list

ANGELES CITY, Philippines — After the Philippine National Police (PNP) corrected its report citing this city as second among the country’s chartered cities with the highest crime volume, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan yesterday expressed his relief over the corrected report showing the city three notches lower in the list.

“I am relieved that the PNP immediately corrected itself, because figures of the local police say otherwise. According to ground reports collated by PNP-Angeles, our city in fact had lesser crime and drug cases compared to previous years,” said Pamintuan in a statement yesterday.

The initial PNP report issued Friday also ranked Puerto Princesa as the fourth in the volume of crimes, but its correction said the capital of Palawan was actually the third among the lowest in crime volume.

The corrected PNP list of top 10 cities with the highest crime volume included Naga on top, followed by Mandaue, Pasay, Iloilo, Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Marikina, Quezon and Santiago. 

Pamintuan cited local police reports indicating that “all index crimes here declined from 1,019 cases in 2016 to 795 cases (last year and to 324 cases last July). From July 2017 to July 2018, murder was down by 22.22 percent and robbery by 31.45 percent.”