DILG Chief reports decrease crime rate in NCR

Secretary Roxas ordered all personnel of the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Bureau of Fire Protection, regional offices of the DILG, and of the LGUs in areas forecast to be affected by ‘Ruby’ to be on heightened alert and cancel their leaves of absence to ensure the safety of the people (Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines’ Facebook page)

MANILA — Secretary of Interior and Local Government Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Thursday announced that crime rate in National Capital Region has decrease due to Oplan Lambat-Sibat, a police operation plan that seeks to address rampant criminality in the metropolis.

From an average of 900-1,000 incidents of robbery, theft, motorcycle and car napping per week in June, the crime level in Metro Manila was reduced to 520, as of the first week of December.

“Masaya ko ipapaabot sa inyo na patuloy ang pagbaba ng bilang ng criminiality ng robbery and theft, kung ang bilang na pagbabatayan ay robbery, theft, motorcycle- and car-napping dito sa NCR magmula 591 incidents last two weeks ago it went down to 525 from Dec. 1-7 (I am happily announcing the continued decrease of criminality like robbery and theft…),” Roxas said after a press briefing held at National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in Camp Aguinaldo.

Since June, the secretary has been acting on President Aquino’s orders in addressing the growing number of petty crime incidents in the metro. In the early weeks of the secretary’s active involvement, Roxas identified root causes of the ineffective and inefficient PNP operations, including ad hoc decision making, working in silos and sporadic anti-criminality efforts.

He added Oplan Lambat-Sibat in NCR will eventually be implemented in the whole country.

“The PNP is all out and will provide full attention to anti-criminality and security even if it is not perfect on the crime stats but with the successful ‘Oplan Lambat-Sibat’ it will decrease the crime in NCR then it will cascade in the whole country,” the DILG Chief noted.

The national police has since conducted major operations to capture criminals in Metro Manila. Oplan Lamabat, from its name, was designed to function as a net for petty criminals. Each strand represents a smaller police operation such as increased checkpoints, mobile and beat patrols, and intensified serving of arrest warrants. Pasadya was envisioned to customize police deployment and operations in densely populated areas, including malls, MRT and LRT stations, and terminals. Oplan Sibat was designed as a unified intel target operations of the PNP, using combined intelligence resources of various operating units.

The secretary also emphasized the value of a data-driven strategy in ensuring integrity and accountability among police officers.

“Ang pagbaba ng krimen… itong mga datos ‘na ito matatag ang kumpiyansa ko dito dahil pinapa-audit natin ito galing sa 38 stations ng NCR linggo-linggo inaudit (This data strengthens my confidence because we audit these from 38 stations from NCR every week),”  he explained.

According to Roxas, data and analytics-driven policing comprises only one aspect that can make for a smarter, more efficient and more effective enforcement of law and order on the streets.