About 1.5 million families suffered common crimes such as robbery, break-ins, car theft, and physical violence in the past six months, a Social Weather Stations survey showed Thursday.
But the rate of those who fell victim to crimes fell a full percentage point lower, and by about 200,000 families less, from the previous survey SWS conducted in December 2017, Malacañang noted in a statement.
“Crimes continue to decline,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
“We welcome the latest Social Weather Station survey showing 6.6 percent of families reporting victimization by any of the crimes within the past six months—down from December 2017’s 7.6 percent,” he added.
The survey, conducted last March 23 to 27, showed most of the incidents led to the loss of property such as street robbery, burglary or break-ins, and “carnapping.”
The March survey showed around 1.1 million families, or 4.6 percent, were victims of street robbers. Around 145,000 families had members hurt by physical violence during the same span, lower than the 188,000 reported last December.
Less families also reported being victimized by break-ins, from 3.4 percent or 790,000 in December to 2.2 percent or 516,000.
More women, however, fell victim to physical violence at 50 percent, from just 11 percent in December. In contrast, fewer men suffered physical violence at 43 percent from 61 percent in the previous survey.
The March survey also found that most victims of street robbery were women, at 59 percent — 19 points higher than the figure reported in December. Again, that’s less than the men who reported being robbed on the street, town to 38 percent from 52 percent in December.
Four in 10 Filipinos also believe many drug addicts live in their neighborhood, compared to 42 percent in December.
Around 51,000 families lost their cars to thieves in the past half-year, less than the 108,000 families who experienced the same in December.
The survey also saw Filipinos who fear walking the streets at night or robbers breaking into their homes decline, but majority still believe the crimes are “likely to happen.”
Over half or 54 percent of Filipino adults agreed with this statement: “In this neighborhood, people are usually afraid that robbers might break into their houses.” Still, it was five points lower than the 59 percent reported in December 2017.
Nearly half or 46 percent agreed with the statement “In this neighborhood, people are usually afraid to walk in the street at night because it is not safe.” That was lower than the 48 percent posted in December.