Friday, March 14, 2008

PNP expects zero-crime rate during Pacquiao fight tomorrow (Sunday)

By Ronron
March 14, 2008

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is expecting a zero-crime rate on Sunday when Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao fights against Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico in the United States of America.

PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said in a news briefing at Camp Crame on Friday morning that based on history, crime incidents all over the country die down when Pacquiao enters the boxing ring because people, including criminals, are preoccupied watching the match.

“Just like the past fights of Manny Pacquiao, we expect again a tremendous decrease in crime volume this Sunday or even to the extent of anticipating a zero-crime rate during the period of the fight,” Bartolome said.

“This is because everyone wants to seek how good this Filipino is. Everyone is focused and very happy to see that another Filipino will shine in the international scene,” he added.

In the past encounters of Pacquiao, police has always reported an almost-zero crime rate in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country supposedly because of the people’s preoccupation in front of their television sets to watch the boxing match.

While there are some criminal incidents that happen, Bartolome said these occur before or after the actual fight. Those that happen during the fight, he said, may not just have been reported to police.

In one fight of Pacquiao a few years back, a resident in Quezon City lost his motorcycle to thieves as he was too focused to watch the bout on TV inside his house.

Thus, Bartolome assured that “even during the boxing bouts of Pacquiao, the PNP is not relaxing.”

“This does not mean that the PNP is no longer working,” he said.

Bartolome said the PNP shares the anticipation of Filipinos to witness another good fight of Pacquiao on Sunday, as he did in the past, regardless of whether he won or not.

“This goes to show that we Filipinos are really in support of a countryman who will again show the true form of a Filipino boxer,” he said./DMS

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