"BACOLOD City is generally peaceful compared to other cities in Western Visayas."
This was stressed Friday, April 8, by Colonel Thomas Joseph Martir, director of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
Martir issued the statement after a four-minute song performed by Philippine music icon Freddie Aguilar entitled "Albee Kaayuhan sang Bacolod" is now making the rounds on social.
Part of the lyrics of the song stated "Wakasan na ang Krimen" apparently referring to crime incidents in the city.
The Grupo Progreso (GP), a local political party led by incumbent Mayor Evelio Leonardia, earlier said this portion of the song sends local police authorities at a loss because Bacolod City has one of the lowest crime indices in Western Visayas.
"Wherever you go there is a crime, but Bacolod City recorded low crime incidents," Martir said.
Records from the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas showed that the highly urbanized city's crime incidents in fact are only at 234 from January to February this year.
Of that number, 38 are index or heinous crimes, while the rest are petty or non-index crimes, data from the BCPO showed.
For that same period, BCPO had the highest number of operations against various criminalities at 849, while Iloilo City only had 687, he said.
Martir said policemen are doing their job to maintain the peace and order in the city.
"We have crime incidents, but we are doing our best to address these problems. All of us have our own opinion and we know what we are doing," Martir said.
He added that several policemen were deployed to various streets to preempt the possible operations of the lawless elements.