QUEZON CITY/ZAMBOANGA CITY/MANILA 

MOST CRIME-PRONE CITIES

         With crowd-sourced global database Numbeo pegging crime index in Manila at a high of 67.78 last year, Manila mayoralty candidate Amado Bagatsing vowed this week to restore peace and order in the capital city with the help of PDP-Laban presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte.

    “Manila is the third worst place in the Philippines when it comes to crimes. This is not surprising considering that the outgoing mayor has not lifted a finger to jail criminals and the drug syndicates now operating with impunity in our city,” said Bagatsing.

      Bagatsing noted with dismay Numbeo’s figures which put Manila behind only Quezon City (71.85) and Zamboanga City (68.23) as the most crime-prone areas in the Philippines. 

    “Mayor Duterte must be doing something right because in the same survey conducted by Numbeo, Davao City’s crime index was pegged at a low 20.08,” pointed out Congressman Bagatsing of Manila’s 5th District.

    Numbeo’s surveys on consumer prices, crime rates, quality of health care and other statistics are regularly cited by news media firms like Forbes, The Economist, BBC, The New York Times, Time and The Telegraph, among others. 

    Duterte has endorsed the candidacy of Bagatsing, a six-termer congressman, for mayor of Manila. Bagatsing has vowed to match Duterte’s iron fist against criminals.

“For the sake of our country, let Mayor Duterte be President because we need someone like him who backs his words with action. I am happy that the Comelec has dismissed the nonsense disqualification complaints against him,” said Bagatsing.

   Numbeo included the Philippines in the 30 countries with the most serious criminality problem.

    Bagatsing said he would increase the allowances of policemen, provide them with good lawyers for protection against harassment suits, and tap barangay units to serve as force multipliers during patrols and police operations.

   He vowed to dismantle the drug laboratories in Manila and to offer substantial reward money for information leading to the arrest of most-wanted criminals in the city, especially those engaged in the trade of illegal drugs./MP