Cebu City crimes drop in Jan-March 2022

CEBU, Philippines — Even with the ease of some restrictions in Cebu City, the number of reported crimes for the first quarter of 2022 has dropped significantly as compared to that of last year.

Lt. Colonel Janet Rafter of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) reported that only 243 crimes were reported from January to March of this year so far as compared to 593 recorded from January to March 2021.

The majority of the crimes reported are on index crimes, including theft cases, physical injuries, rape, murder, robberies, homicide, and, a carnapping incident.

Aside from its anti-drug campaign, CCPO also reported 552 operations and arrested 986 persons so far under its anti-gambling campaign.

Increased police visibility in establishments and crime-prone areas including in the interior parts of the barangay have been credited to the decrease of crimes here.

Force multipliers plus tanods and volunteer groups, also added security to the Cebuanos.

The relentless implementation of the public health standards has also made a valuable contribution to making the city safer.

“We are happy to note that despite the pandemic, crime rates have been decreasing and we hope that through our efforts, this will still continue to decrease,” said Rafter.

Drug-cleared

Meanwhile, additional two barangays in Cebu City are expected to be “drug-cleared” soon.

The two barangay are Lusaran and Kinasang-an, according to the city’s Public Information Office report.

With this, there will already be 13 total drug-cleared barangays in the city soon.

To be drug-cleared, drug personalities who are under Philippine National Police (PNP)–Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) watchlist have been accounted for and later underwent and completed the community-based drug rehabilitation program.

“After becoming drug-cleared, we also help them sustain their drug-cleared status,” said Reed Lauriane Almeda, PDEA-7 representative, during the Cebu City Peace and Order Council meeting.

Cebu City Office on Substance Abuse Prevention head Jonah John Rodriguez said rehabilitation programs are a very important process to be able to keep a barangay’s status as drug-cleared.

“That’s why we conduct house visits sa drug personalities and encourage them to enroll in our program,” said Rodriguez.

The COSAP implements a Department of Health (DOH)-approved module that includes a weekly session facilitated by “recovery coaches”, who used to be addicts but have been free from drugs for at least one year.

The program would go on for four months for drug surrenderers, six months for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), and one month for general intervention cases.

In a related development, Almeda also reported that PDEA-7 conducted 13 anti-drug operations from January to March 10 this year, resulting in the confiscation of shabu worth P1.7 million.

In the same meeting, the CCPO, for their part reported 384 anti-illegal drug operations with 430 persons apprehended and the seizure of P40 million worth of illegal drugs for the first quarter. —   GMR (FREEMAN)