The crime rate of Navotas has gone down by 50 percent, the Navotas City Police reported, making the flood-prone city a safer place to live in.
In a statement, the police said they recorded 139 crimes in the first semester of this year compared to the 293 incidents in the same period last year.
“This reflects our steadfast determination to fight criminality to keep our constituents safe from any harm,” Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco said.
Tiangco partly attributed the steep decline of the city’s crime rate to its strengthened and continued anti-drug campaign.
“Around 70 percent of crimes is drug-related and since we stepped up our efforts to fight illegal drugs, we were also able to deter related crimes,” he said.
“We want to make our city drug-cleared within three to six months. Seven out of 14 barangays should be declared free of illegal drugs by September 30,” Tiangco added.
Tiangco concurrently heads the Navotas Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Nadac).
From January to July this year, Navotas police arrested 221 drug offenders including 61 pushers, 114 in possession of drugs, and 46 users.
“Our success in halving our city’s crime rate was largely due to the help of our constituents. They send us messages through Text JRT (John Rey Tiangco) to report names of drug personalities,” the mayor said.
About 698 drug offenders have also voluntarily surrendered to him and Navotas Police Chief PSSupt. Dante Novicio from July 1 to August 11.
“We have established a recovery center where substance use disorder (SUD) patients will be able to get counselling or become part of a support group,” Tiangco said.
“We are also conducting a series of seminar-workshops to equip our police, barangay officials, health workers, educators, and other community members with the knowledge and skills to handle and help SUD patients,” he added.
NADAC, in partnership with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, is also giving lectures to Grade 6 pupils on drug awareness and prevention. The council has already visited four out of the city’s 15 elementary schools.
In addition, the NADAC is spearheading the city government’s sports clinic program to steer the youth’s attention away from drugs and towards meaningful activities. It conducts trainings and tournaments in basketball, volleyball, badminton, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, soccer, track and field, and poomsae.
