Ten cities in the Philippines were included in the 28 safest cities in Southeast Asia last year based on the survey of Numbeo.
Numbeo is the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide. Numbeo provides current and timely information on world living conditions, including cost of living, housing indicators, health care, traffic, crime and pollution.
In the Numbeo survey, Valenzuela City was the second-safest city with 24.03-point crime index and 75.79-point safest index.
Valenzuela City has been under the administration of Mayor Rexlon T. Gatchalian since 2013 after nine years under Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian from 2004 to 2013.
Numbeo said the “crime Index is an estimation of the overall level of crime in a given city or a country.”
“We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and crime levels higher than 80 as being very high,” it added.
Safest index is “quite the opposite of crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe,” Numbeo said.
Singapore was on the No. 1 spot with a crime index of 16.58 points and safest index of 83.42 points.
Third is Davao City, which got 28.4 points in the crime index and 71.6 points in the safest index. Davao City is the hometown of President Duterte, which was its mayor for more than 22 years.
Davao City’s present mayor is the President’s daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Baguio City is the fifth. Its crime index reached 40.72 points, while its safest index ended up in 59.28 points.
This was followed by the City of Makati with 41.36 points in the crime index and 58.64 points in the safest index. Makati has been under the leadership of the Binay family since 1987.
The first to be the city’s mayor was Jejomar Binay, who became the country’s vice-president from 2010 to 2016, followed by his wife Elenita, then son Jejomar Erwin, who was booted out by the Court of Appeals several months before the 2016 elections due to charges of graft and corruption and, at present, by Mayor Abigail Binay.
The seventh placer was Cagayan de Oro City, as its crime index was pegged at 44.51 points, while its safest index received 55.49 points.
Cebu City ended up as the 13th-safest city with 48.79 points in the crime index and 51.21 points in the safest index.
This was followed by Iloilo City, which got 49.53 points and 50.47 points in the crime index and in the safest index, respectively.
With 56.06 points in the crime index and 43.94 points in the safest index, Bacolod City ended up in the 19 spot.
Quezon City was in the 23rd place after getting 59.79 points in the crime index and 40.21 points in the safest index.
Quezon City has been under the leadership of Mayor Herbert M. Bautista since 2010.
The City of Manila, the country’s capital, fell in the 26th spot as it got a score of 60.92 points in the crime index and 39.08 points in the safest index.
Manila’s chief executive for about five years now is Mayor Joseph E. Estrada.
Numbeo said the results of the survey was “based on surveys from visitors” of its web site’s visitors. It pointed out that the questions for its surveys were “similar to many similar scientific and government surveys.”
“Each entry in the survey is saved as the number in the range [-2, +2], with -2 having meaning of strongly negative and +2 meaning of strongly positive,” Numbeo explained.
The group said it filter surveys to eliminate potential spam, like people entering a large amount of data, which are different from the median value. The group uses the scale (0, 100) for values, since it is easier to read for users.
In 2016 Makati, Valenzuela, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Manila, Iloilo, Bacolod, Zamboanga and Quezon City were among the safest cities in Southeast Asia, Numbeo web site showed.
Baguio City was not included.