PNP hails survey showing more Pinoys have better quality of life

FILE: ONE WITH PDEA. Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, says he agrees with the stand of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to reveal the intelligence reports on high-value targets (HVTs) to Vice President and anti-drug czar Leni Robredo, during an interview with reporters on Monday (Nov. 18, 2019). This came as PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said he will only give a copy of the list to Robredo in a closed-door meeting as this contains sensitive and classified information. (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday welcomed the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that showed 36 percent of Filipinos had improved quality of life due to the efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

“This feeling of improved quality of life is fairly consistent with PNP data that showed improved crime situation over time,” said PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa in a statement.

Gamboa cited the 4.89 percent drop in nationwide crime volume during the third quarter of 2019 as compared with the same period in 2018.

“This data validates our assumption that people appreciate the improved quality of life in a safer environment where there is less crime and less fear of crime,” Gamboa said.

The PNP’s third-quarter crime data showed significant decreases among crimes against persons and crimes against property in most crime categories such as murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft, and carnapping, except for rape that rose 3.47 percent from July to September this year.

Gamboa said all these index crime cases, except rape, dropped steadily with carnapping posting the sharpest decline at 45.86 percent and theft cases going down further by 13.84 percent.

Murder cases decreased by 9.81 percent, homicide by 11.90 percent, and robbery by 4.52 percent.

Crime solution and crime clearance efficiency ratings were consistently posted at double-digit figures in the 3rd quarter, indicating the capacity to solve and clear criminal cases.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo assured the public that the Duterte administration will continue to carry out programs and projects to alleviate poverty and improve the economy.

“We assure everyone that such encouraging level of optimism would certainly boost the morale of those in the government to deliver on the President’s promises and improve on the significant gains of the past three years until the remainder of PRRD’s term in 2022,” he said.

A survey by the Social Weather Station conducted on Sept. 27 to 30, 2019, indicated 36 percent of Filipinos said their lives improved over the past 12 months.

The same survey found that 46 percent of adults expect that their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months while only five percent expect their quality of life will worsen.

The September 2019 SWS survey was conducted from September 27-30, 2019 using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults.