(File photo)
MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday urged the University of the Philippines (UP) community to be aware of what is really happening around its community in terms of security and safety issues.
This came as the PNP Public Information Office released data showing that Barangay UP Campus ranked 20th out of 142 villages in Quezon City in terms of peace and order in the last five years since 2016.
"That's the reason people from the UP Campus need to open their minds to the realities around them and think about their safety and security. Cooperation with police authorities is not a political issue but about the maintenance of law and order to protect inhabitants of the campus, especially the youth, from crime and lawlessness," PNP spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana said in a statement.
Topping the five-year total of eight focus crime incidents in Barangay UP Campus were drug-related cases (250), followed by theft (106); robbery (72); physical injury (36); rape (21); carnapping (23); and two cases of robbery with homicide.
These crime records are culled from the barangay blotter of Barangay UP Campus that are now recorded in the PNP National Crime Information Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS).
"They are facts. The explanation may not be far different from other areas. That crimes happen anywhere, especially when left unchecked and undeterred and when security measures may not be so strictly carried out. Barangay UP Campus is no exception," Usana added.
During an earlier dialogue among representatives from the government security sector and the academe, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) authorities have noted the “prevalence of the drug problem” in the state university and its police force’s inability to address crime and public safety issues in the campus.
While citing that the index crime trend in Barangay UP Campus has dropped significantly in 2020, the trend of non-index crime in the community remained consistent.
Among other prevalent non-index crime incidents recorded in Barangay UP Campus were cases of illegal gambling (72); malicious mischief (21); violence against women and children (four); direct assault (four); forcible abduction (three); homicide (14); acts of lasciviousness (five); estafa (13); child abuse (43); public health violations (11) and obstruction of justice (two).
The barangay sits inside the sprawling 493-hectare UP Diliman campus in Quezon City that spans from Barangay Botocan in the southwest, a segment of C-5 and Barangay Pansol in the southeast, to the Central Avenue in the north.
The campus covers seven barangays (or at least portions of them) including the Barangay UP Campus.
A census conducted in 2012 by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Community Affairs in cooperation with local government units like the Barangay UP Campus, has revealed the presence of at least 15,500 households (each averaging 4.5 members) living in self-built units that were constructed without necessary permit from the UPD administration.
The UPD security system consists of the UPD Police (with 42 officers and nine administrative staff) with 240 security guards and security service brigade (SSB) personnel.
UPD employs more than 1,500 full-time faculty members and 1,700 regular administrative -and technical support personnel to serve the academic needs of more than 27,000 students. (PNA)
