ROBBERY incidents dipped sharply since 2016 and continued its decline slowly during the second half of 2017," the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported.
Robbery incidents was down 23.61 percent from 18,259 in January to October 2016 to 13,948 cases in the same period 2017, nationwide.
Robbery cases dropped to an all-time low in the past 22 months in October 2017 at just 1,295.
The downtrend was reported in all Police Regional Offices.
This is good news, and we can only hope that this trend continues.
The police has a lot to do with this declining number -- police visibility and response discourages robbers from going about their business with impunity.
We have seen the worst in the recent years, when there was even a rise in bag-snatching committed by motorcycle riding robbers. Those are in the past now, and we are glad.
It matters indeed when government looks out for the benefit of the greater majority, the common people, and we can only throw in our support for the Administration, which has consistently cracked the whip on erring policemen while constantly encourages them to do their jobs instead of joining the criminal world as many policemen have been doing in the past.
What we are seeing is the return of pride to the uniformed career, as we have been witnessing this in Davao City. Where the uniformed as looked up to as key components of the community, and they are reminded over and over again of their noble role in enforcing the law, a return to nobility is harvested.
Kudos to the police and may this not be a glitch in your regular performance.
Meanwhile, we read with trepidation the news about two former Customs men linked to the entry of P6-billion worth of shabu to the Philippines who were given new appointments by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Based on appointment papers signed on November 6 but released by MalacaƱang on Friday, November 10, Gerardo Gambala was named Director IV of the Office of Transportation Security while Milo Maestrecampo was appointed as Assistant Director General IV of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the Sun.Star Philippines reported.
Both former mutineers of the Magdalo group in 2003, Gambala was a Customs deputy commissioner while Maestrecampo was Import Assistant Service director at the Bureau of Customs, when the controversy over the P6.4-billion illegal drugs shipment erupted.
There was no other explanation outside the report that they have new posts, and so we beam our focus on this to see how things will shape up. Suffice it to say, we find this disgusting pending a clearer picture of how this came to be.