A photo featuring a list ranking Manila and Quezon City among the top cities in Asia with the highest crime rate continues to circulate on Facebook (FB). This needs context.
The picture, posted by former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque on his FB page on April 8, had Manila in second place and Quezon City in third among 15 cities, based on Numbeo’s 2025 Crime Index.
Roque captioned his post with “Bagong Pilipinas! (New Philippines!),” a reference to the Marcos administration’s branding and campaign rally.
A reverse image search of the photo revealed the original post has been circulating on social media since February.
The data cited, however, needs context. While it is true that both cities ranked high on Numbeo’s crime index, the database is known to “crowdsource” data through “surveys answered by website visitors” and does not use official and confirmed statistical methods.
A general disclaimer published on Numbeo’s website states that the structure of the project allows “anyone with an Internet connection to modify its content” and advises readers to “use our content at your own risk.”
It adds:
“Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.”
Numbeo was founded in 2009 by a former Google software engineer Mladen Adamovic to provide information on the cost of living and quality of life in various cities around the globe.
In 2017, a Swedish man tested the reliability of the database by manipulating the crime statistics of Lund, Sweden. After repeatedly submitting negative ratings, he succeeded in making Lund appear in the Numbeo Crime Index Rate as the most dangerous city in the world.
The photo, first published by FB Page SEA Metropolis, again made the rounds in social media in April after House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez issued a statement condemning the rise of what he called “scripted” and “fabricated” stories of crime on social media.
Also published by several FB users and pages Seasia Stats (created July 17, 2021), Speak Up Pilipinas (created Nov. 23, 2024) and Pinoy Showbiz (created March 1, 2018), the posts collectively garnered 60,100 reactions, 15,400 comments and 48,000 shares.
