Marcos to new PNP chief: Maintain low crime rate

Metro Manila, Philippines - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he has a new police chief in mind and will be told to further pursue the decline in overall crime rate.

The president held off on naming the official who will succeed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief PGen Rommel Marbil who will retire on June 7.

“I will actually tell them, carry on what you are doing,” the chief executive said in an interview on Wednesday, May 28.

“Maganda naman result na statistic, maganda naman ang nagiging trabaho ng kapulisan natin in terms of law enforcement…Nababawasan natin ‘yung krimen. Kailangan nakikita ‘yung pulis para feeling safe naman ‘yung mga tao,” he added.

[Translation: The statistics are good, our police are doing a good job in terms of law enforcement... We are reducing crime. The police need to be seen so that people feel safe.]

In its first quarter report, the PNP said it recorded an 18.4 percent crime rate decline nationwide from Jan. 11 to March 22 compared to numbers in November 2024 to early January.

Meanwhile, the National Capital Region Police Office said the index crime rate in Metro Manila decreased by 37.06% in February 2025 compared with the same period last year.