PNP denies hike in cybercrime cases in PH

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday denied that cybercrime cases in the Philippines increased in September.

Citing data from the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG), PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Jean Fajardo said that cybercrime cases decreased to 3,704 in the second quarter from the 4,354 in the first quarter.

“So lumalabas po ‘yan ay meron pong pagbaba na 14.86%. At kung ito naman pong second quarter, ikukumpara po natin na from July to September ay mas mababa pa rin po ‘yan ng 5.75%. So makikita natin continuing po ‘yung pag baba,” she said.

(So this shows that there is a decrease of 14.86%. And from the data in the second quarter, if we compare it from July to September, there is also a 5.75% decrease.)

However, she noted that there was a slight increase in cases in July.

Fajardo issued the remark after a Social Weather Station (SWS) report showed that families victimized by cybercrimes rose from 3.7% in June to a record-high 7.2% in September.

The survey was conducted from September 14 to 23 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide with a sampling error margin of ±2.8% for national percentages, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

“But based po sa record ng ACG, ‘yung July po ay tumaas at mababa po siya at least from September po. So in the interest of transparency po pinakita po natin ‘yan just to compare sa nilabas ng SWS survey po,” Fajardo said.

(Based on the record of the ACG, it increased in July and started going down from September. So in the interest of transparency, we are showing this as a comparison to the SWS survey.)

Aside from this, Fajardo said there is also a continuous decline in crimes against persons and crimes against property. She said there was a 13.52% decrease in such cases. — BAP, GMA Integrated News