In a press release, the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO 5) hailed the “significant decline” of 21.05 percent in reported rape cases in the Bicol region over the past four years.
“From 931 incidents in 2022, the number decreased to 703 incidents in 2025, reflecting a consistent downward trend in sexual offense cases,” it said. “This improvement highlights the sustained efforts of PRO 5 in strengthening law enforcement operations, enhancing investigative efficiency, and ensuring the prompt identification and arrest of offenders.”
Of the 703 recorded cases in 2025, 377 have been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office for appropriate legal action, while 246 cases have already been filed in court and are currently awaiting final judgment.
PBGen. Erosito Miranda said that PRO 5 has intensified its preventive and community-based initiatives to address sexual abuse, strengthening engagement at the grassroots level by working closely with barangays, ensuring that communities are well-informed and that police services remain accessible and responsive.
Coordination with partner agencies has also been reinforced to improve case management, strengthen victim protection mechanisms, and ensure a more coordinated and victim-centered approach in handling sensitive cases, he added.
Units have likewise maximized the use of social media platforms to disseminate information on laws protecting women and children, safety reminders, and available hotlines for immediate assistance, PBGen, Miranda stated, to complement on-the-ground campaigns to broaden reach and improve public awareness.
Continuous training and capability enhancement programs have been conducted for police personnel, focusing on proper handling of sexual abuse cases, trauma-informed investigation techniques, evidence preservation, and adherence to legal and ethical standards, he stressed.
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However, a closer look at the situation in Catanduanes shows otherwise.
In the last four years, from 2022 to 2025, the number of rape cases reported to the police has averaged 39, just 17 percent off the high of 47 sexual assaults recorded in 2022.
While the rape cases declined considerably from 47 in 2022 to just 37 the following year, not much success has been achieved by Camp Francisco Camacho.
In 2024, that number slid by just one case to 36 and in the following year to 35.
While the police may be strengthening its crime prevention and response initiatives by expanding community-based policing programs to deepen partnerships with barangays and local stakeholders, enhancing early intervention and risk identification at the grassroots level, it is overlooking the importance of deterring such crimes by trumpeting the successful prosecution of rape cases.
For years now, the local courts as well as the police have been refusing to release details regarding sexual abuse cases, including those already decided.
Current Supreme Court guidelines on the protection of the identities of the victims state only that copies of decisions released to the public hide their identities, even that of the suspect if he is a family member and the barangay.
That’s why readers rarely see on the pages of this paper an account of a rapist convicted and sent to a lengthy stay in prison.
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PROFESSIONAL ACQUAINTANCE. A doctor and his wife were sunbathing on a beach when a beautiful young woman in a skimpy bikini strolled by. The near naked woman looked at the doctor, smiled, and said in a sexy voice: “Hi, there, handsome. How are you doing?”
She then wiggled her backside and walked off.
“Who was that?” demanded the doctor’s wife.
“Er…just a woman I met professionally,” he replied.
“Oh yeah?” snarled his wife. “Whose profession? Yours or hers?”