DAVAO CITY (PIA)-- Reacting to bashings from social media on the reported upsurge of crimes in the city, Police Col. Alberto Lupaz said the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is still on top of the situation.

“Alam mo yung Facebook kasi marami dyan mga fake news at saka isip-isip lang nila yun actually wala naming society na free of crimes nagkaroon lang tayo ng sensationalized crimes sa month of May kaya ang perception ganoon.  (You know in Facebook there are many fake news and it's just their speculation. Actually, there is no society that is free of crimes, we just had sensationalized crimes in the month of May that is why they have that perception),”  Lupaz said.

He said they are still implementing the various crime prevention programs being done by the DCPO. One of these programs is OPLAN RAT TUGIS, a citywide focused operation against criminals involved in RAT (Robbery/Holdup, Akyat-Bahay, and Theft).

The DCPO also has the new OPLAN KILOS which is a pro-active anti-rape measure.

“We have already launched it (OPLAN KILOS) we have already cascaded it into different police stations hopefully this will help in reducing the incidence of rape here in Davao,”  Lupaz added.

Meanwhile, based on statistics from the DCPO, the incidents of the eight focused crimes (murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, theft, robbery, car theft, motorcycle theft) from January to May 2023 has been reduced to 40% as compared to the same period last year.

From January to May 2023, there were about 127 cases involving the eight focused crimes, while in the same period of 2022 a total of 212 cases were recorded. (RGA/PIA11)