Crime volume 6,000 incidents down from same time last year —PNP

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. on Wednesday underscored the country's lower crime volume in the first days of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s administration.

This as the nation's top cop was asked if he thinks criminals no longer feel the "iron fist" under the Marcos administration as they presumably did under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Personally, I don't see it, otherwise because kung makikita po natin 'yung crime volume po, 'yung first 56 days compared po noong last year, last year po is we have 35,000 po..." Azurin said at a Palace presser.

He said that the first 56 days of the Marcos administration saw a lower crime volume of 29,000 reported incidents, compared to 35,000 in the same period last year.

He further said: "The same period po, 56 days of the presidency of the time noong 2010, noong 2016, at ngayon po, ay makikita po natin na bumababa po ang crime index natin."

(In the same period, the first 56 days of the presidency in 2010, in 2016, and now, we can see that the crime index has been going down.)

Azurin called on the public to help the police by reporting crime.

"Para ho maging epektibo pa po ang ating mga kapulisan, sana po 'yung mga tumutulong po sa atin ay bigyan tayo ng totoong insidenteng nagaganap po, totoong krimen na nagaganap po para nang sa ganon ma-follow-up pa po," Azurin said.

(In order for the police to be effective, those who give us information should provide verified details of the crimes so we can follow up.)

The PNP had already dismissed circulating information that a serial killer or a criminal group in a white van was behind the recent incidents of kidnappings and slays in the metro and even in nearby provinces. — BM, GMA News