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Security Guards Are Everywhere!
When I first arrived in the Philippines I departed the plane at the international airport in Manila.
A friend met me at the airport and drove me to his family home. His family served a snack and soda. We ate on their front porch.
I asked about good low cost places to stay. They referred me to an apartelle. It was the first place I stayed in the Philippines.
After resting up after 3 flights and a total of almost 24 hours of air travel I went across the street to the local SM Mall. It was there I first began to see armed guards. They were at the entrance to the mall.
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| Armed Guards At Mall Entrances |
They poked a stick into the sling bag I was carrying and searched it. There were guards at the entrances to many shops and stores inside the mall. At the bank branches, drugstores. At the cinema.
During the next five years in the Philippines I have ridden jeepneys and taxis into and out of the main business districts of Manila and several other cities. I have been walking on sidewalks near banks when the armored trucks arrived. When the driver stops in front of a bank guards get out and join the two or more bank guards. They are armed with pistols, shotguns and even automatic weapons (Armalites). Guards facing all directions around the truck. Probably not a good idea to stick around when the armored car pulls up.
Gated subdivisions have guardhouses and armed guards at their entrances. I was looking for a house to purchase and visited a subdivision that had guards at the entrance and even had guard towers around the perimeter wall. I was told that several armed guards patrol the subdivision day and night.
At first it is somewhat disconcerting to see armed guards everywhere but one gets accustomed to it.
In fact I got so comfortable with living in the Philippines that eventually we rented an apartment in a subdivision which had no security other than the local police force. We never saw them in our neighborhood until once, when we had only a short time left on our lease, I called them to complain about our landlord who started remodeling while we were still living there.
It seems he had hired a couple of guys to start knocking a hole in the wall adjacent to us so that he could create an archway in order to combine our unit with the one next door. He thought one larger would bring him more money than two smaller units. The workers accidentally knocked a hole all the way through our wall and debris fell on our sofa. Well I deemed that an invasion of privacy.
The police jeep pulled up in front of our unit. The officer in charge got out with several of his troops formed a circle around him and me. Dressed in black uniforms they had rifles and shotguns at the ready. Apparently routine procedure in this rural area.
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| Magalang City Hall |
The officer advised me that, if I wanted to, I could go to the police station at the city hall and file a formal complaint and have the landlord "blottered." Which I did. Not long after the incident our lease was about to expire, and we moved out.
If you move to the Philippines, I am sure you will get used to the presence of armed guards. In fact, you may soon appreciate a feeling of security you may not have known in your own country.
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This post will be expanded. Check back for more information about uniformed and armed security guards in the Philippines. Posted December 15, 2016. Last updated June 3, 2022.
