So announced last week the Police Regional Office 3, citing an assessment of the National Economic and Development Authority. This, press released by the Pampanga Provincial Information Office.
Read the PR: “…the comparative average monthly crime rate (AMCR) per province and city showed that Pampanga recorded the lowest AMCR with 42.12, followed by Zambales with 72.49, Nueva Ecija with 72.78, Tarlac with 72.86, Bulacan with 78.24, Bataan with 82.69, Aurora with 115.85, Olongapo City with 134.25 and Angeles City with 276.79.”
The reader may want to ask now: So what do those figures actually indicate? What does a “low” AMCR of 42.12 for Pampanga or a “high” of 276.79 for Angeles City mean?
Continued, as vaguely, the PR: “Based on report, the average monthly crime rate is pegged at 76.49 incidents, which is lower compared to 77.7 incidents in year 2013. In 2014, PRO-3 recorded a total crime volume of 100,033 crime incidents as compared to 98,478 for the same period last 2013 reflecting a significant increase of 1,555 incidents or 1.57 percent.”
We have learned from our bygone years in police reporting that crime incidents per 100,000 population is the usual equation used in determining the AMCR. The PR should have made this clear, if it were the case in this instance. A case of police lapse? Or, lousy reporting?
Anyways, touting Pampanga as “the most peaceful” province in the region on the basis of its 42.12 AMCR is contentious. By no means in comparison with the AMCRs of the other provinces and cities, but on the referential term “peaceful.”
If peaceful be meant as the state of minimal, if any, crime incident, then it would be more appropriate to dub Pampanga as “least unpeaceful” among the provinces of Central Luzon.
Which appellation can yet be conflicted with more statistics dished out in the PIO release, thus: “The province of Bulacan recorded the highest crime volume with 29,051 or 29.04 percent, followed by Nueva Ecija with 18,070 or 18.06 percent, Tarlac with 11,763 or 11.75 percent, Angeles City 11,469 or 11.14 percent, Pampanga 10,771 or 10.76 percent, Bataan with 7218 or 7.21 percent, Zambales with 4,919 or 4.91 percent, Olongapo with 3,812 or 3.81 percent and Aurora with 2,960 or 2.95 percent crime incidents.”
In any language, 10,771 crime incidents do not, cannot, translate to peace. I cannot help but channel President BS Aquino III here: Nabobola tayo.
Acting the police reporter again, I crossreferenced these latest figures with past statistics on crime rate and resolution in Pampanga in years past also press released by the Pampanga PIO and finding print in the local papers, most notably Headline Gitnang Luzon.
Pampanga crime rate dips by 40% last year
That Feb. 6, 2013 story cited then provincial director Senior Supt. R’win Pagkalinawan as reporting to Gov. Lilia G. Pineda that the “total crime [volume] of 4,042 in 2011 has been trimmed down to only 2,542 in 2012.
In a matter of two years — 2012-2014 – Pampanga crime volume – from 2,542 to 10,771 – increased by over 400 percent, if my math is correct, if the figures issued by the PIO, based on what it cited as police reports, are accurate.
Even more staggering is what follows:
Pampanga crime rate down by 57%
On July 11, 2012, then provincial director Senior Supt. Edgardo Tinio reported that the total crime volume recorded from January to June of 2011 is 1,755 while crimes documented for the same period in 2012 is 693—a difference of 1,062 incidents.
The March 19, 2015 PIO story titled Provincial gov’t allots P30M for peace and order said: “Records also show that crime rate in the province increased by 27.96% in January to February 2015 compared to the same months of 2014.
The 887 crimes in 2014 increased by 1,135 in 2014 (sic)…” Obviously, 2015 meant there.
Compare now:
First six months of 2011 with 1,755 crime volume.
First six months of 2012 with only 693.
First two months of 2014 with 887.
First two months of 2015 with 1,135.
What do we see here?
Rather than decreasing, crime in Pampanga is spiralling at an exponential rate. Pray, tell, where is that “most peaceful” evinced here?
To be fair, Governor Pineda has never been remiss in her obligation to foster a climate of peace, an atmosphere of order among her constituency. This most manifest in the moral, material and financial support – far beyond the call of duty – she has always extended to law enforcement and peace efforts. No less than the police at the national, regional and provincial levels attest to Nanay’s benevolence and charity. Indeed, just last week, she caused the allotment of P30 million from the Capitol funds exclusively for peace and order purposes.
Now, if only the law enforcers themselves, and the local government executives were as resolute, as committed, as the governor to the war against crime and disorder…
