With more violators of the enhanced community quarantine in Cebu City, the police and military are deploying more personnel to help implement stricter ECQ rules and keep more people off the streets. | Alven Marie Timtim
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has helped with the drop of the crime rate in Cebu City, says Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
Based on the records from the CCPO, there was a 68.12 percent drop in crime rate in the eight focused crimes from March 17 to May 2, 2020, which was around the time the ECQ was implemented.
Ligan told reporters on Monday, May 4, 2020, that compared to the months of Jan 30 to March 16, which recorded a total of 276 crime cases, there were only 88 recorded incidents from the eight focused crimes when the ECQ started
Read: Police see a drop in number of crimes in Cebu City
“Basically, ECQ has been a factor, especially on economic crimes like theft and robbery cases… This is because people have been staying inside their homes and the people immediately report the incidents,” said Ligan.
For the days under ECQ, only 43 incidents were reported compared to the months before, which reached 167.
There was also zero homicide and motorcycle-napping incidents for the last 47 days.
Meanwhile, the confiscated illegal drugs during the operations under ECQ on the month of April is higher compared to the same month last year.
Ligan said that April 2020 accumulated at least 6,450 grams of illegal drugs worth P42.5 million. Last year, the total amount of confiscated illegal drugs at the same period was pegged at P29.1 million.
The higher number of confiscated illegal drugs and arrested personalities, Ligan says, would only mean that the checkpoints have been effective when it comes to catching criminals.
Ligan said right after ECQ, the CCPO personnel will strengthen their force to conduct more anti-illegal drugs operation as well as balance other anti-criminality programs to keep the community safer. /bmjo