Philippine Crime Rate Drops by 61% Under ECQ

Crime in the country has effectively come down.

With Luzon and other areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the crime rate has gone down by more than half.

The latest data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) reveals that 2,561 crimes were recorded from March 17, the start of the Luzon-wide quarantine, until April 29, compared to 6,532 crimes reported from February 2 to March 16.

This is a 61 percent decrease in crime incidence 44 days after enforced quarantine.

The biggest decline in the crime rate was recorded in Luzon at 1,177 cases, a 67 percent drop from 3,525 cases.

In the Visayas, the crime rate decreased by 57 percent, with 718 cases recorded against the previous 1,668.

Mindanao cases dropped by 50 percent, with the number of crimes in the region going from 1,339 to 666.

Still according to PNP data, majority of crimes committed involved: theft, with 726 reported, down from 2,243 cases; physical injury, 560, down from 990; murder, 404, down from 748; and robbery, 369, down from 1,070.

Reported rape cases also dropped to 304 from 794, reported homicide incidents dropped to 109 from 192, and reported carnapping cases dropped to 89 from 501.

QUARANTINE VIOLATORS

Cases of quarantine violations came up to a total of 153,487 individuals arrested from March 17 to April 29.

Luzon recorded the highest number of violators with 97,128, followed by Mindanao with 28,762, and Visayas with 27,597.

Data from the Joint Task Force (JTF)-COVID Shield showed that 104,146 of the total number of violators were given a warning, 9,709 were fined, and 39,632 were arrested.

The JTF-COVID Shield is composed of the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Led by PNP Deputy Chief of Operations Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, the JTF-COVID Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The IATF is the policy-making body in charge managing the coronavirus situation in the country.

The IATF is also responsible for crafting the quarantine protocols being implemented nationwide.

ENFORCED QUARANTINE AGAINST PANDEMIC

ECQ has been extended to May 15 in areas considered at high-risk from the pandemic.

As of April 30, areas that remain under ECQ are: Metro Manila, Central Luzon (except Aurora), Calabarzon, Pangasinan, Benguet, Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod City, and Davao City.

Meanwhile, the general community quarantine (GCQ) is being observed in all other regions and provinces of the country until May 15.

Quarantine protocols have severely restricted the movement of the public to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As of May 1, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded a total of 8,772 coronavirus cases, with 1,084 recoveries and 579 deaths. 

Main image from Philippine National Police on Facebook