PNP Chief Plt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. – Photo courtesy of the Office of the Chief PNP/Facebook.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday that the country recorded a 24.32-percent decline in reported crimes during the first month of 2026.
PNP Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the police recorded 2,449 incidents of focus crimes in January, down from 3,236 during the same period last year. Focus crimes include murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, and carnapping.
Among the decreases, murders fell from 316 to 284, homicides from 104 to 83, and cases of physical injury dropped from 409 to 283. Reported rapes fell sharply from 848 to 331 incidents.
Carnapping also declined, with motor vehicle thefts down from 25 to 17 and motorcycle thefts from 189 to 144.
Nartatez added that police arrested 2,086 most-wanted persons and 5,073 other wanted individuals throughout the month.
The PNP also reported confiscating P651 million worth of illegal drugs in 4,491 operations, seizing 39 kilograms of shabu, over 575,000 pieces of dried marijuana leaves, 1.5 million marijuana plants, and 3,100 pieces of marijuana kush, and arresting 5,062 suspects.
In addition, authorities confiscated P1.95 billion worth of allegedly smuggled goods in 688 operations, leading to 436 arrests, underscoring continued police enforcement against criminal and smuggling activities.