Dumaguete City was named the safest city in the Philippines, the travel planning resource World Travel Index reported this month.
WTI records showed that Dumaguete had a safety score of 81.36 percent, making it the safest city in the country and ranked 1097th among all the cities in the globe.
Dumaguete was followed by Davao City with a score of 80.73 percent, Bulacan – 76.42 percent, Balanga City in Bataan – 76.15 percent, Lucena City in Quezon – 75.24 percent, Naga City – 75.02, Baguio City – 73.99 percent, Puerto Princesa – 71.46 percent , Legazpi City – 71.34 percent, and Makati City – 70.41 percent.
Bacolod City ranked 23rd among Philippine cities with a safety score of 57.43 percent.
The WTI website said that the overall safety score was made up of five sub-categories including day and night assessment of residents and visitors, theft-free, drug-free, and violence-free assessments.
The assessment is also based on the AI-assisted aggregated analysis of 50 million travel websites, including all user reports from Reddit and Quora.
Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office said that the report highlights that both residents and tourists feel consistently safe in Dumaguete, day and night, with very low risks of crime, harassment, scams, and drug-related incidents.
“These recognitions highlight the dedicated efforts of the Local Government Unit, the Philippine National Police, and community partners in upholding peace, safety, and quality of life in Dumaguete City, truly the ‘City of Gentle People’”, the statement added.*