By Jennifer P. Rendon
Crime volume in Iloilo province declined by over 10 percent in the first semester of 2021.
Records from the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) indicated that it recorded 2,130 crime incidents from January 1 to June 30, 2021.
The statistics was 241 cases less (10.16 percent drop) compared to 2,371 cases in the same months last year.
Focus crimes – murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, and carnapping/ motorcycle theft – also registered an 11 percent drop, from 412 cases in 2020 to 365 incidents this year.
Colonel Gilbert Gorero, Iloilo police chief, said the series of quarantine measures, liquor ban, and intensified police visibility and patrolling were factors in the lesser crime incidents.
“This is probably one positive side of the pandemic – lesser crime incidents because people’s convergence is limited,” he said.
The Iloilo top cop also cited the positive impact of ‘Birada Semana” in the reduction of crime incidents.
Birada Semana is a week-long implementation of focused police operation which hyped the operational accomplishment of a police office in the region.
“The week-long focus police operations we do once a month truly helped curbing criminality,” he said.
