Makati barangay safer with Laperal residents gone

Manila, Philippines – A blanket of peace and calm has settled over Barangay Guadalupe Viejo with the departure of illegal settlers from Laperal Compound, police and local officials reported Tuesday.

Barangay chair Edgardo Lugay told the Inquirer that in the past, he had to deal with complaints about theft or drunken brawls in the area every day.

He claimed that since the clearing the compound, there have been fewer cases of petty crimes and assaults.

“Residents come up to me now to say that they can confidently walk outside [their houses] with Laperal settlers out [of] the barangay,” Lugay added.

In April, the Makati City government declared the Laperal Compound a danger zone after a fire gutted down the majority of houses in the area. After several violent clashes with members of a demolition team and the police who were sent to clear the compound, residents were forced to relocate to government resettlement sites.

The 34-year-old barangay chair, who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life, said that the compound had been a perennial problem for authorities because of the frequent occurrence of  fights between drunks, marital disputes and snatching cases.

Lugay, however, noted that with the departure of the illegal settlers, there had been “big changes” in the area, an observation that Chief Insp. Alex Fulgar shared.

Fulgar is the commander of the Makati Police Precinct 9 which has jurisdiction over the barangay.

“There used to be a time when reports [about] snatching and robberies came in daily. But in the past two weeks, we have not recorded a single crime in the area,” he said in a phone interview.

Fulgar added that previously, he had to assign several policemen to guard the area, to deter crimes.

Lugay, meanwhile, said that as part of his responsibilities, he had to mediate spats between residents on issues ranging from marital squabbles to property disputes.

Regular hearings

“The barangay used to conduct hearings from Wednesdays to Fridays to settle these disputes, [With the residents gone from the compound] we don’t have to do it anymore,” he revealed.