By Anthony Vargas/Manila Times
The Philippine National Police (PNP) tagged Iloilo City yesterday as one of the most crime prone areas in Western Visayas.
The city hobbles under a heavy volume of crimes reported in the first six months of the year.
Data from the PNP directorate for Investigative and Detective Management show a rise in crime incidence in Western Visayas with 4,631 cases recorded from January to end of June this year.
Of these cases, Iloilo City tops the list with a total crime volume of 1,049 cases recorded for the same period—529 cases were crimes against property; 318 crimes against individuals and 202 non-index crimes.
But the crime volume rose in the wake of a directive from the PNP headquarters that crimes reported to “Lupon Tagapama-yapa ng Barangay” or village peace-keeping committees should now be included in the police crime statistics.
After Iloilo City, the province of Negros Occidental came in second with 824 recorded crimes for the same period, of which 293 cases are non-index crimes or violations of special laws and 153 cases of physical injuries.
Bacolod City was third on the list with 778 cases—293 are non-index crimes while 265 cases of theft have been recorded, figures indicate.
The province of Aklan came in fourth with 657 crimes, of which 206 are theft cases and 112 cases of non-index crimes.
Iloilo province came in fifth with 561 crimes of which 186 are physical injuries and 65 murder cases.
