Robredo on Naga City crime ranking: Totally unacceptable

FILE: Vice President Leni Robredo. (Photo: VP Leni Robredo)

Vice President (VP) Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo disproved the claim of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Oscar Albayalde that Naga City — the VP’s bailiwick — is the fifth city in the Philippines with the highest crime rate.

“Totally unacceptable. Spare our people and our beloved city from misinformation,” Robredo said in a tweet on Friday, August 24.

“PNP Chief claims Naga consistently ranked 5th in crime volume all over the country. The truth: Murder-34th; Homicide -24th-26th; Rape-29th; Robbery-11th; Theft-6th,” she continued in a separate tweet.

Citing an information based on PNP data, Albayalde earlier told reporters that among the major cities in the country, Naga City has “consistently ranked number 5 in terms of crime volume in the first semester of 2017 and 2018.”

However, PNP spokesperson Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana, Jr. clarified that Naga City is, in fact, “ranked No. 6 in the total crime volume during the period from January to July 2018.”

“My sincere apology to this oversight and whatever inconvenience it may have caused in which I, as acting chief PIO [Public Information Office], is solely responsible,” he added.

A Rappler report also said that the PNP spokesperson acknowledged the fact check the news outfit did — that the top cop “mistook the listing of cities by region as one arranged according to crime volume.”

Naga City is in Bicol which is Region V.

President Rodrigo earlier referred Naga City as a “hotbed of shabu” in the country.

Robredo, in response to this, said it was a “huge insult” to the people of Naga and a “big slap” on the face of not just its local government officials but also to everyone who are working hard to improve the city.

“Hindi natin ito ite-take sitting down, kasi unang una, hindi totoo. Kasi kung totoo ito, tayo pa iyong yuyuko para humingi ng tawad (We will not take this sitting down, because first of all, it is not true. Because if this is true, we will be the first ones to bow down and ask forgiveness),” the Vice President told reporters in a chance interview on August 18.

“Pero dahil hindi siya totoo, talagang magrereklamo tayo na, iyon nga, pambabastos sa lahat na taga-Naga (But since this is not true, we protest this insult to all the people of Naga),” she added.

The Naga City also voiced out its ‘indignation’ over the President’s remark.