There goes dinner...

First there was the robbery along Pasay Road at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant — at most a 10- to 12-seat, counter-style izakaya bar.

It isn’t even a particularly popular place. I had tried it one time, but was not particularly impressed by the food. It seemed that its clients were mostly friends of the owner.

Thus, when the robbery happened, it was suspected to be an inside job, sending chills through the Japanese business community and affecting even the more popular Little Tokyo district nearby in the Makati Cinema Square area, where cost-conscious Japanese patrons know it as the cheaper alternative to the high-end Tsukiji.

To help quell the fear among their Japanese clientele, the Rufinos worked with the Makati Police to put up a small detachment to safeguard the area and reassure customers. Soon enough, their confidence returned, and they came back to the area.

But with this more brazen robbery along Makati Avenue, at the heart of the redeveloped Ayala Triangle Gardens area, where the rich like to play in their “safe” playground, all bets are off, and there goes dinner!

I had actually noticed just this week that One Roxas Triangle Condominium had beefed up its security, with guards now carrying long firearms near the car exit along Paseo de Roxas toward Buendia and Bel-Air. I guess the community had already been alerted to increasing criminality in the area.

A colleague who lives in the area had already been telling me since the Pasay Road robbery that criminality had increased because of the area’s proximity to the popular honky-tonk bar district, so much so that she no longer takes her evening stroll through Ayala Triangle Gardens and does not even use the underground passageway, especially at night.

I had heard similar stories — that the underground passages along Ayala Avenue are not safe to use at night because there are no guards assigned to protect pedestrians and that there have reportedly been a couple of hold-ups, although I have not seen any verified reports.

Just yesterday, while attending a conference at a hotel across from Ayala Malls, I hurriedly made my way through the underground walkway, fearful that, since I appeared to be its only user, I might become an unexpected victim.

I was supposed to write about a different topic today, but upon reading the Bilyonaryo article that finally named Rumba as the restaurant that was recently victimized right in the heart of the Ayala Central Business District, my heart sank because our struggling restaurant sector will definitely take another hit, as diners will surely avoid eating out after dark.

I remember a couple of years ago there was a series of motorcycle robberies in Quezon City, victimizing small restaurants that did not have any security personnel and robbing innocent diners at gunpoint.

My husband and I used to enjoy going out late at night to eat dimsum and noodles, or to dine at whatever restaurant was still open to satisfy our late-night craving. However, after those robbery incidents, we changed our late-night habits. Since then, more restaurants have stopped operating late at night.

This recent robbery in Makati will surely have the same effect at a time when dining out is already constrained by the rising cost of just about everything and when, perhaps, only the well-off are able to continue eating out.

If Makati is no longer safe, where else can people be safe?

The younger generation has actually changed, for the better, in terms of its nighttime habits, preferring to crowd Starbucks and other similar coffee places for sandwiches, pasta and sweet treats. But they, too, may soon feel the security threat.

Gone are the beer gardens and bars. There are still a couple of nightclubs, but I’m sure they, too, will now be more careful, or their patrons may opt to lie low.

I have not heard so far of any similar incidents in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), where there is a vibrant nightlife patronized by the younger generation of well-known families. However, security personnel in the area are more visible, although activity does slow down significantly after 10 p.m.

More inspections

In San Juan City, it has been a well-known practice of the local government to put up pop-up checkpoints, especially for motorcycles. Police officers set up random checkpoints along roads at the boundaries with Manila and Mandaluyong and ask riders to dismount, remove their helmets and present their documents for inspection.

Of course, it is easy for San Juan because it covers a small area compared with Manila, but the Makati Central Business District is also a relatively small area within Makati.

Perhaps Makati should do the same thing. While it may alarm some, it may also reassure others that the Makati Police are on the job 24/7.

As I said, BGC sets up nightly barricades at key entry points, and security forces are regularly seen patrolling the area.

While helmets are meant to protect motorcycle riders, they have also effectively allowed criminals to commit crimes while hiding their identities. In that sense, the motorcycle helmet has been weaponized.

Reputational damage

In a Viber group, there was also discussion about the reputational damage being caused to the land developer and the apparent lack of visible security patrols. Like I said, BGC is investing heavily in providing its security force with motorcycles and maintaining nightly barriers at key entry and exit points to the CBD. Perhaps Ayala Land should allocate more resources to securing the area instead of relying solely on the Makati Police to do the job.