In the past few months, residents have been bombarded with news and gossip on various crimes that were perpetrated in Barangay Laging Handa. Neighborhood-level talks have been circulating about the scant security measures being implemented by officials of the barangay.

To squash the rumors, Laging Handa Barangay Chairman Ralph Diaz sat down with ScoutAreaOnline.com for an exclusive one-on-one after his speech in the oath-taking ceremonies for sitio leaders.

To answer insinuations that there have been no concrete steps to thwart criminal activities such as bikenapping and mugging, Chairman Diaz outlined the crime preventive measures they are putting in place.

First off, the ‘Neighborhood Watch’ is a program meant to organize the residents to combat crime. Diaz said some residents are willing to pool money to reinforce security and safety. “The goal is to hire more tanods and give them specific sitio assignments to augment the existing tanod force. The pooled money will be given as salaries to the new hires,” Diaz expounded.

Most of the criminal elements come from neighboring barangays such as Kamuning and Obrero, which have high numbers of urban poor settlers. Diaz said that in Area 19, the group of barangays that he heads, around half of the population belongs to low-income levels. “This explains the high incidence of crime in these areas because of lack of opportunities to earn money.”

He said Laging Handa is situated in the middle of Area 19 and is easily one of the criminals’ targets due to its rich inhabitants.

To combat this and to arm them with the skills necessary for the job, he sent his whole tanod force to seminars and specialized trainings.

Although they have limited manpower, they make it a point to give bigger remuneration compared to other Quezon City barangays. This is to encourage them to work harder and make them less prone to temptation.

“We pay them almost triple the amount as other barangays pay here in the Scout Area,” Diaz said.

Research shows that the common salary of a barangay tanod is PHP 1000 a month, which is not enough to make ends meet. To augment their income, some tanods resort to illegal, money-generating activities using the law enforcement powers vested in them.