Fewer Filipinos said that they had fallen victim to property crimes and other common crimes despite the continuous fear of crimes and unsafe streets, except in Metro Manila and partially, in Balance Luzon, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Tuesday.
The survey, which was conducted among 1,200 respondents, showed a “record low” numbers of families losing property to street robbery, burglars (break-ins) or carnappers (car thieves) within the past six months at 3.1 percent, or an estimated 706,000 families from the previous record low of 4.5 percent in December 2016.
Those who said they fell victim to any "common" crimes slipped to a “record low” of 3.7 percent, or an estimated 840,000 families from the 6.8 percent, or an estimated 1.6 million families recorded in December 2016.
On the other hand, families who said a member was victimized by physical violence remained at 0.6 percent or an estimated 149,000 families.
The quarterly percentage of respondents saying they were robbed of their personal property outside their homes posted single-digit drops in Visayas, Mindanao, Balance Luzon and Metro Manila, where it logged a new record low of 4.3 percent.
However, the fear of burglaries and unsafe streets rose in all parts of the country, except for Metro Manila and, also in terms of fear of unsafe streets, Balance Luzon, the polling firm noted.
Respondents fearing unsafe streets eased a bit in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, but went up by 13 points in Mindanao to 55 percent and by 1 point in Visayas at 48 percent.
The presence of drug addicts significantly decreased in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon. However, it moderately increased in Mindanao and Visayas in June.
SWS noted that victimization by common crimes reported in its surveys is much higher than the number of crimes actually reported to the police.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella attributed the survey results to the government's campaign against crimes and illegal drugs.
"Efforts ensuring public safety in the first year of the Duterte administration are yielding positive results; however, more needs to be accomplished in making sure that our streets, neighborhoods and communities are kept permanently safe, not only within Metro Manila but also in the rest of the country," Abella said in a statement.
The survey conducted from June 23 to 26 has a sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages.