MANILA -- Criminality nationwide almost doubled in 2009 than the previous year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
The PNP reported that in 2009, a total of 101,798 crime incidents were noted, consisting of 61.26 percent of “index crimes” or crimes that are serious in nature and 38.74 percent of non-index crimes.
The number was almost twice that of 2008, where 62,148 crime incidents were reported.
PNP spokesman Leonardo Espina said: “The figure does not necessarily reflect a worsening crime situation, but is actually the product of more efficient and accurate crime reporting under the Integrated Transformation Program to develop more efficient police systems and procedures.
Data from the PNP’s National Crime Reporting System (NCRS) said that among the index crimes reported in 2009, the highest recorded were incidents of physical injuries (35.73 percent).
This was followed by theft (24.73 percent), robbery (15.75 percent), murder (9.62 percent), rape (4.9 percent), homicide (3.99 percent), and car theft (0.51 percent).
A total of 8,501 street crime incidents were also recorded throughout the year, a majority of which were incidents of robbery (51.25 percent), theft (28.77 percent), physical injuries (15.79 percent) and swindling/estafa cases (4.19 percent). (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)