Peace and order credited for high tourist arrivals

CEBU, Philippines - The continuous arrivals of foreign and local tourists indicate a favorable perception of peace and order in Central Visayas particularly in Cebu.

This was the assessment made by Police Regional Intelligence Division Chief Melvin Ramon Buenafe during the first full council meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council held in Dumaguete City recently.

In his report before the council, Buenafe said the Koreans topped the list of the foreign nationals who arrived in the region with 17,602 arrivals as of January 2009. The Japanese tourists came in second with 14,320 arrivals; Americans with 8,785; Taiwanese with 4,960 and Chinese with 4,857.

Cebu remains to be the top destination of both the domestic and foreign tourists with 146,035 or 76.40 percent.It was followed by Bohol with 24,028 or 12.57 percent, Negros Oriental with 19, 179 or 10.03 percent, and Siquijor with 1,919 or one percent.

Along with the tourist arrivals in Central Visayas, the PNP also recorded 36 foreign nationals who became victims of various crimes while six were recorded as perpetrators.

Topping the list of victims are Koreans, then Japanese, Americans, Australian, Danish, Dutch, German and Swiss.

Buenafe explained that most of these tourists became victims of theft and robbery, but most of the cases were already solved and settled while some are still under follow-up investigation.

He emphasized that there is a dramatic decrease in the volume of index and non-index crimes in the months of January to February this year compared to the same period in 2008.

In the index crimes, he said theft cases went down to 275 in 2009 from 328 in 2008 while physical injury decreased to 243 this year from last year. Robbery cases also went down from 205 in 2008 to 169 in 2009.

However, Buenafe said there was a slight increase in the number of rape cases from 22 in 2008 to 42 this year. Murder cases also increased to 81 this year from 80 in 2008.

Over all, he explained that there was a decrease in crime volume from 1,553 in 2008 to 1,296 in 2009.

The province of Siquijor has the lowest crime rate in the region while Cebu has the highest in terms of index and non-index crimes.

Siquijor only recorded nine crimes while Cebu has recorded a crime volume of 396.

Cebu City ranked first among the three highly urbanized cities in Cebu in crime volume with 360. It was followed by Lapu-Lapu City with 178 and Mandaue City with 61 cases.

Buenafe cited that theft is the most common committed crime, followed by physical injury and robbery. — Garry B. Lao/WAB (THE FREEMAN)