A blog published by pacificprime.com and titled “Top 7 Places for Expats to Live In the Philippines” describes Davao as “The Safe City.” The article, posted on April 12, 2023, said: “Davao is the largest city in Mindanao and is considered one of the safest cities in the Philippines. The city has strict laws and regulations, ensuring a peaceful environment and low crime rates. This makes Davao a great place to live for expats who value safety and security.” [emphasis supplied]
Another website, boholinvest.bohol.gov.ph, listed Davao as the number one safest city in the Philippines on March 9, 2023.
The recent travel advisory on Mindanao released by the Canadian embassy also excluded Davao City from the list of places that its nationals should avoid visiting.
According to the 2023 Safety Index on cities in South-Eastern Asia published by numbeo.com, Davao had an index of 72.4, second only to Chiang Mai’s (Thailand) 75.5, and higher than Singapore’s 70.8 and Penang’s (Malaysia) 66.5. Makati City ranked 6th with an index of 61.2, Iloilo placed 8th (58.5), Cebu was 12th (58.1), while Quezon (36.8) and Manila (34.6) occupied the 19th and 20th places, respectively.
Numbeo says its vision is “to build a connected world where individuals, businesses, and policymakers have access to reliable, comprehensive, and real-time data on the cost of living, quality of life, and socio-economic factors. We envision a future where data-driven decision-making is the norm, empowering people to make informed choices about where to live, work, invest, or travel.”
It adds that its website was mentioned or used as a source by many international newspapers and magazines including BBC, Time, The Week, Forbes, The Economist, Business Insider, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, The Telegraph, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, China Daily, The Washington Post, USA Today and many more.
What was not mentioned in these favorable articles is the relatively high incidence of rape cases in Davao City.
For the period January 1, 2022 to May 5, 2023, of the eight focus crimes recorded by the Davao City Police Office, rape ranked first with 209 cases. This number is equal to the combined number of cases of murder (69), homicide (11), physical injury (39), robbery (81), “motornapping” (8), and “carnapping” (1) during the period. There were 150 theft cases for the same period.
In a report published on its website on April 12, 2023, the Philippine Information Agency, quoting DCPO spokesperson Major Catherine de la Rey, reported that rape had the highest incidence among the eight focus crimes in Davao City.
De la Rey, in a news report published by MindaNews on June 5, 2023 was quoted as saying that the 31 cases of rape recorded from January to April last year was “alarming” and remained to be the highest of the eight focus crimes in the city even if the figure was lower compared with the 57 cases for the same period in 2022.
An article published on davaocity.gov.ph on May 10, 2023 said: “PS20 station commander PMaj. Elisa C. Ramirez, during the Usapang Pambata: Special Office for Children’s Concern program of 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) aired on May 9, said, ‘Nagkataas, very alarming ang sexual abuse against sa mga kabataan ug kababainhan. Although padayon ang programa sa kapulisan, atong mga advocacy campaign still kulang pa gyud (Sexual abuse against children and women is increasing, it’s very alarming. Although the police program continues, our advocacy campaigns are still not enough)’.” [emphasis supplied]
PS20 logged eight sexual abuse and rape incidents in 2022, the same article said.
There were 178 rape cases recorded in Davao City in 2022 and 128 in 2023, according to data released by the DCPO. It means an average of 14-15 cases per month in 2022 and 10-11 cases per month in 2023.
A news report, citing data from the Philippine National Police, said at least 22 rape cases were being reported in the Philippines every day from Jan. 1 to Nov. 13, 2022, or a total of 7,197 cases for the period, lower than the figures recorded in 2021.
“Police Region Office (PRO) Region 11 said 413 rape cases were recorded in Davao Region. The highest incidence was in Davao City where 123 cases were monitored. Of the figure, 94 are minor victims. At least 90% of the incidents happened in the victims’ residences and involved their relatives,” according to the same report.
The Philippines has a total of 1,634 towns and cities. Based on the 7,197 total rape cases reported from Jan. 1 to Nov. 13, 2022, the average for the entire period was 4-5 cases per town/city. But for Davao City the average was roughly 12 cases per month.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories.
MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network.(H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
