Tuaño bets on police visibility to drive down Western Visayas crime

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Newly designated Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño is adopting what amounts to a basic strategy in the fight against crime: the intensification of police visibility.

Tuaño said heightened police visibility has proven effective in lowering crime, as evidenced by the implementation of the Safer Cities initiative of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Data showed a decrease in the eight focus crimes — murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motorcycle theft — since the enforcement of the Safer Cities program.

“Comparing the data on April 2024, April 2025 and April 2026, we noted a 42 percent decrease in the number of eight focus crimes,” Tuaño said.

Forty-five days after its launch on April 6, focus crimes had gone down by 17 percent.

“So, what have we learned from this statistics? It’s because of the intensification of police visibility,” he said.

Tuaño said the data would serve as a parameter for whether the office is on the right path with its strategy against crime.

The office would also factor in its strategy against non-index crimes, or violations involving special laws such as illegal drugs, illegal possession of firearms, and smuggling.

He acknowledged that the public wants to feel the presence of police on the streets and in the community.

Tuaño said he would ask his subordinate commanders to identify the areas where police are present.

More than 9,000 individuals were apprehended for violating local laws and ordinances as PRO-6 intensified its police visibility and public order operations across Western Visayas.

From May 1 to 23, 2026, PRO-6’s consolidated reports showed 9,211 people apprehended for ordinance violations.

The most common violation involved infractions of the traffic code at 4,600 cases, followed by drinking and smoking in public places at 2,750, minors violating curfew hours at 839, and roaming the streets without shirts at 521.

A total of 10,952 violations were recorded earlier, from April 6 to 30, 2026.

Most of the violators, or about 7,479, were only warned and released.

The remaining 3,431 violators were fined.

Launched on April 6, the “Safer Cities” initiative aims to reduce urban crime through increased police visibility, strict enforcement of local ordinances, and community-based security.