Crime’s vicissitudes

The Philippine National Police, or PNP, made a huge splash with a recent global report naming the Philippines as among the “safest nations” in the world. This surprised many Filipinos since it is not grounded in reality.

The police leadership attributed the decent ranking of the country to the PNP’s relentless efforts to ensure peace and order.

A review of the Gallup survey, 2023 Global Law and Order Report, showed that the Philippines indeed obtained a high ranking of 86 percent from those who responded positively to the questions on confidence in the local police and safety when walking alone at night.

Gallup said the Philippines ranked third among the safest countries in Southeast Asia with an index score of 86 behind Vietnam’s 92 and Indonesia’s 90.

What police officials glossed over in the report was that the survey was taken between 2021 and 2022, which would have been the situation under the previous administration.

The perception of most Filipinos today is that peace and order had deteriorated quickly after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. took the reins of government.

The PNP used the opportunity to drum up figures that showed falling crime incidents. The organization’s figures showed an 8.44-percent drop in crime in 2023, or 38,230 incidents from the 41,755 cases in 2022.

The overall mood of most Filipinos, however, particularly those living in Metro Manila, is that a season of fear has once more dawned with citizens again locking themselves inside their homes while criminals roam the streets.

The opposite occurred during the previous administration when civilians owned the streets while the dregs of society were either in prison or running in fear of the authorities.

A good gauge of the feeling of security among Filipinos was the explosion of the mobile phone game where fictional creatures are hunted, a virtual adventure that takes the make-believe safari up to the early part of the following day.

Entire families stayed out on the streets at the height of the game’s popularity which coincided with the start of the relentless anti-crime campaign of the previous regime.

The current public discontent revolves around the return of the drug menace that does not have to be the subject of a survey as the social degradation is very palpable.

In an ordinary community, the once-exiled drug traffickers are back on the streets and those individuals who seemed to have recovered their health during the tight police watch on the nefarious trade are again walking around zombie-like at night after getting their daily dose.

There’s a strong feeling that the supposed falling incidence of crime had something to do with an alleged order from the police hierarchy to rationalize the reporting of crime. Spot reports were even discouraged.

Negative reporting can be managed with a direct order from the top such as when the late President Noynoy Aquino supposedly issued an order to the police to halt the fatality count of the “Yolanda” storm surge tragedy in 2013.

Despite the whole world knowing that more than 10,000 Filipinos were victims of the super typhoon, the government count remained at a little over 6,000 dead.

Such news management did nothing but only cause bitterness among the people, particularly relatives of those who perished.

It is the same problem with manipulating the numbers on the crime situation since most people don’t have to look at survey results to come to a consensus that the situation has worsened.

Obfuscation results in stoking discontent that can only be countered by being truthful which those in the incumbent administration are afraid to be.

“Gallup said the Philippines ranked third among the safest countries in Southeast Asia with an index score of 86 behind Vietnam’s 92 and Indonesia’s 90.

“The police leadership attributed the decent ranking of the country to the PNP’s relentless efforts to ensure peace and order.