PRESIDENT Aquino on Monday lauded Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome and the Highway Patrol Group for  curbing  incidents of car theft  over the past two years.

The President issued his commendation after noting Bartolome’s report which showed a significant decrease in carnapping cases over a two-year period. 

He also asked PNP-HPG director Chief Superintendent Leonardo A. Espina to pursue a more effective nationwide car theft reporting system thru a short messaging system  already being tested by the HPG in Metro Manila.

Bartolome said their statistics showed a peak in carnapping in 2009 with 1,903 incidents and 2,200 incidents in 2010. The volume further went down to only 966 incidents in 2011.

The PNP attributed the sharp dip in carnapping cases to interdiction and market denial operations for resale of stolen cars and car parts and the recent neutralization of a big carnapping syndicate responsible for almost 20 percent of carnapping cases.

Majority of the accomplishments against organized car theft gangs were scored by the PNP-HPG with the help of the different PNP territorial units, the National Capital Region Police Office headed by Director Alan LM Purisima.

Bartolome also ordered a stepped-up anti-carnapping campaign in the metropolis which remained to be the main source of stolen motor vehicles in the country having 85 percent of the total number of incidents followed by Regions 4-A and 3. Quezon City has the most number of car theft cases last year with 24 percent of the total incidents recorded followed by Manila and Makati with 20 percent and eight percent respectively.

Last year, the PNP-HPG recorded a considerable decrease of 59.40 percent or 1,307 incidents less compared to the same period in 2010.