A recent survey by OCTA Research found that 72% of adult Filipinos said they feel safe in their neighborhoods.
The survey, conducted from July 4 to 11, 2026 among 1,200 Filipino adults, also showed that 68% said they are not afraid to walk alone at night, while 54% said they are not worried about burglars breaking into their homes.
OCTA said respondents consistently expressed higher confidence in general neighborhood safety compared to walking alone at night and home security.
However, despite these results, the survey noted a decline across all three indicators, with the largest drops observed in Metro Manila and among Class ABC households, according to OCTA.
Data showed that Visayas recorded the highest level of perceived neighborhood safety at 84%, while Metro Manila posted the lowest at 58%.
For walking alone at night, agreement was highest in Balance Luzon at 72% and Mindanao at 71%, while Metro Manila again recorded the lowest at 48%.
Meanwhile, confidence in home security was highest in Balance Luzon at 61%, while Metro Manila and Mindanao posted lower levels at 44% and 47%, respectively.
“The Visayas is the only major area where perceptions of general safety and night-time security held steady or improved since 2023,” OCTA Research said.
“Viewed together, the three indicators suggest a layered structure to how Filipinos may experience safety,” it added. “One possible reading is that a general sense of community order is easier to affirm than more specific, harder-to-verify risks tied to one’s own household and person, which are less directly observable in day-to-day life.”
OCTA said overall perceptions of neighborhood safety among Filipinos remain generally positive, but confidence becomes more cautious when respondents are asked about personal safety and home security.
“This general-to-specific pattern holds fairly consistently across most regions and socioeconomic classes, which may indicate that the gap between broad and specific safety perceptions is not confined to a particular area or income group, but could be a more general feature of how Filipinos assess peace and order,” the research firm said.
The survey has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, while subnational estimates for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao carry a ±6 percentage point margin of error at the same confidence level. — Photo from Abucay Bataan PNP
