MassKara Festival 2019
BCPO records a nearly 63% drop in ‘focus crimes’
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) issued a report yesterday showing a nearly 63 percent drop among “eight focus crimes” during the MassKara Festival, which came to a close over the weekend. The Philippine National Police define the “eight focus crimes” as murder, homicide, rape, physical injury, robbery, theft, carnapping, and motornapping.
Between October 8 and 27, the BCPO showed a drop from 43 incidents reported last year to 16. Most notably, there were nine instances of theft and four physical assault cases reported during this year’s festivities.
There were also two robberies and one rape-related incident reported.
According to BCPO, this year’s festivities were peaceful with no significant incidents recorded.
More than 2,000 police, military, and emergency personnel were in the city to maintain security during the festivities.
A majority of the force was made up of police, including members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force.
K-9 units from both the Philippine Army 303rd Infantry Brigade and the Philippine Coast Guard were also deployed for bomb and drug-sniffing duties./DGB, WDJ