The country鈥檚 crime rate has decreased for the first nine months of the year, according to data released by the Philippine National Police.
Citing its Crime Information Reporting and Analysis System, the PNP reported on Thursday that from Jan. 1 to Sept. 5, the index crime volume decreased by 8.7 percent to 26,168 cases, compared to the same period last year with 28,660.
Except for homicide cases鈥攚hich increased by 0.42 percent from 720 to 723 this year鈥攁ll of the other index crimes decreased over the past nine months.
Car theft recorded the highest decrease by 30.9 percent (from 233 to 161), followed by physical injury cases which dropped by 15.23 percent (from 3,827 to 3,244) and rape, which went down by 14.48 percent (from 6,887 to 5,890).
Other index crimes also had reported a downtrend: robbery (6.5 percent); theft (5.2 percent); carnapping of motorcycles (3.99 percent); and murder (2.45 percent).
The largest volume of reported index crimes were theft (8,643), followed by rape (5,890), physical injury (3,244), robbery (3,234) and murder (2,831).
PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. commended the efforts of the police force for the continuous decrease in the volume of crimes in the country, saying this 鈥渞eflects the hard work and dedication of our officers and the effectiveness of our police interventions and strategies.鈥�