Crimes in Central Visayas dropped by 28% in 2025

CEBU, Philippines — A major downtrend in crime, marked by a 28 percent decrease, defined the continuing fight against criminality in Central Visayas in 2025. a significant margin that the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 attributes to its “relentless” campaigns.

As reflected in PRO-7 statistics, the number of reported index crime cases decreased from 3,662 incidents recorded from January 1 to December 31, 2024, to 2,720 during the same period in 2025.

This means that PRO-7 recorded 942 fewer incidents across eight focus crimes, including murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motornapping.

Accordingly, these crimes were closely monitored due to their direct impact on the safety and security of the community.

Among the eight focus crimes, theft cases showed the most notable drop, declining from 1,307 in 2024 to 887 in 2025.

Additionally, at least 152 fewer robbery incidents were recorded, along with 174 fewer cases of physical injury and 122 fewer rape cases.

For carnapping of motor vehicles, reports showed a 57.14 percent drop, while a 31.40 percent decline was tallied for motorcycle carnapping.

Furthermore, murder cases also decreased by 46, from 223 in 2024 to 177 in 2025.

Homicide cases, however, rose by eight, from 41 in 2024 to 49 in 2025.

PRO-7 said homicide cases are now being addressed through intensified monitoring and targeted law enforcement deployment after determining that the limited increase was outweighed by significant reductions in all other focus crimes.

In a statement, the regional police force attributed the overall crime reduction to the Philippine National Police’s core agenda, which is also influenced by the Peace and Order Operational Formula of PRO-7 Regional Director Police Brigadier General Redrico Maranan.

Maranan’s direction on law enforcement is said to be centered on intelligence-driven operations, sustained police visibility, inter-agency coordination, and strong community engagement.

The regional director also asserted that the accomplishment is the result of the strong discipline and dedication of the men and women of PRO-7, as well as efficient collaboration with communities in implementing initiatives and programs.

Meanwhile, in Cebu City, one of the major cities in the region, crime statistics also showed an overall 32.86 percent decline in index and non-index crimes, as well as vehicular and traffic-related incidents.

Data from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) revealed that the 7,486 cases recorded in 2024 shrank to 5,268 in 2025.

In particular, index crimes declined from 822 cases in 2024 to 602 cases in 2025, or 220 fewer cases.

Non-index crimes, on the other hand, saw a reduction of 1,501 cases, from 5,617 in 2024 to 4,116 in 2025, according to CCPO records.

For vehicular and traffic-related incidents, the previously tallied 1,407 reports in 2024 were reduced to 549 cases in 2025—an indication of the city’s improved road safety enforcement and traffic discipline, as assessed by the CCPO.

With these figures, the CCPO also credited the vital partnership among the city police, the local government, and the community.

The Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO), on the other hand, also recorded a 27 percent decline in criminal activities across the province.

Based on comparative data, CPPO reduced the eight focus crimes from 1,398 in 2024 to 1,015 in 2025, translating to 383 fewer incidents.

Accordingly, robbery incidents in Cebu Province posted one of the steepest declines, plunging from 182 cases to 94.

Theft cases also dropped from 441 to 327; physical injury cases from 347 to 282; rape cases from 254 to 188; murder cases from 110 to 78; motornapping from 41 to 22; and carnapping from four incidents to only one.

Reported homicide cases, however, logged a slight increase, from 19 in 2024 to 23 in 2025.

To further prevent the rise in homicide cases in the province, the CPPO said it has implemented measures to intensify interventions, police visibility, and intelligence monitoring. — /IHM (FREEMAN)