Manila, Jan. 23 -- Philippine National Police (PNP) acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. on Friday ordered all territorial police units down to city and municipal levels to sustain the gains in reducing criminal incidents in their areas of jurisdiction.

This is after the police recorded a 12.4 percent decline in focus crimes in 2025 or from 40,771 in 2024 to 35,717 incidents last year.

The focus crimes are murder, homicide, rape, physical injury, theft, robbery, and motor vehicle and motorcycle theft.

Data further showed that most major crime categories posted significant reductions, led by rape, which registered the highest decrease at 22.68 percent, dropping from 9,910 cases in 2024 to 7,662 in 2025.

This was followed by...