Pinoys feel unsafe in streets, homes

Three out of every 10 Filipinos, or roughly 28 percent, feel unsafe walking the streets at night while four out of 10 Filipinos, or 37 percent, are afraid of being robbed at home, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

But Pulse Asia research director and STAR columnist Felipe Miranda stressed that the results of their nationwide Ulat ng Bayan survey for the first quarter of the year showed that fewer people fear walking in the streets or being robbed compared to last year.

When asked whether they agreed with the statement, "In this neighborhood, people are usually afraid to walk in the street because it is dangerous," 28 percent of respondents agreed while 59 percent disagreed. Thirteen percent were undecided.

On the other hand, 37 percent agreed with the statement, "In this neighborhood, people are usually afraid that robbers might break into their houses." Forty-nine percent disagreed while 14 percent were undecided.

The survey, conducted from March 22 to April 10 involving 1,200 adult respondents, also showed that more Filipinos feel safer on the street and at home than in December. The survey had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.

The poll also showed that the most fearful against muggings and burglaries are not from Metro Manila, which is basically divided, but from the Visayas, where there are more people who fear for their safety on the street or inside their homes.

Among Metro Manilans, half of the respondents were not afraid to walk the streets at night while the respondents were almost equally divided on fear of robberies, practically the same with the survey results in December.

But nearly half of the urbanites from the Visayas expressed fear of being robbed while 43 percent were afraid of walking the streets at night, the survey showed.

But if Metro Manilans hardly feel safer and Visayans fear to be in more danger, less Mindanaons believe that their neighborhoods are unsafe or that they would be burglarized.

Despite the region’s association with insurgency and kidnapping, only 29 percent of Mindanao residents felt their neighborhoods were unsafe, 53 percent felt they were safe while 17 percent were undecided, practically no change from the figures in December.

Most Mindanaoans (51 percent), on the other hand, do not fear robbers would break into their homes while only 30 percent expressed fear. Nineteen percent were undecided.

According to the survey, residents of rural Luzon appear to be the most secure on the streets.

Eight out of 10 respondents said they didn’t fear walking the streets at night while only one of 10 expressed fear at going out at night.

While more than half of the respondents (55 percent) from rural Luzon expressed fear at robbers breaking into their homes, the 34 percent who expressed fear at robberies reflected the national figures.