Filipino members of a Japanese club and restaurant owners' group in Makati's largest village are urging their Japanese counterparts to join forces in working with the police to help maintain security in the area.

This comes after a string of robberies victimizing Japanese nationals that began in October last year. There are a total of 11 robberies involving Japanese, with eight happening in Makati.

On Monday, owners of clubs and restaurants in Barangay Pio del Pilar met with Makati Substation 3 Commander Major Christopher Del Mundo to discuss setting up the group and how to prevent further crimes in the village.

According to Cholo Santiago, owner of Heiwa na Yoru and Club Anata, sales in the area went down by 75 to 80 percent after the Japanese Embassy warned its citizens to avoid the city since it had become unsafe due to robberies.

“Our main concern at that time was the Japanese Embassy was already giving out or sending out advisories telling their citizens not to go to Makati, specifically Makati. It's going out already that Makati City is a very dangerous place. So that was our concern,” Santiago said.

“So, when everybody was complaining already, now we decided okay, let's meet. We met with the barangay chairwoman and then the station commander at that time and also somebody from the main (police) station…we met for one afternoon,” he added.

Santiago said in December 2024, more owners of Japanese establishments and Makati City police met, but had to start over since there were new police officials.

“Hopefully, by next month, we were thinking, we can organize again and do a like, meeting the new station commander...And then we can continue what we started because it's very informal now. There's no formality. We don't even have a name. We just organized because of the problems we were having,” Santiago said.

Santiago said the group would help improve coordination between owners of Japanese establishments, barangay officials and the police in addressing crimes in the city.

He also said he wanted to show Japanese nationals that Makati is safe, especially now that there were more police in the city.

Criz Woon, owner of Kaizoku KTV Bar and Goraku Amusement Center, said: “The problem is the owner of the other club is Japanese. So when we like to conduct a meeting, they send their manager or tenchou (store manager). That’s why they cannot decide. In the meeting, they will say ‘Okay, we will tell our boss’. “

“This is not a joke. This is a legit organization and they must cooperate and coordinate with the PNP and also to the organization that we like to open,” he said.

Woon said they have several plans for the cops that will be deployed to their barangay, including providing blinkers and tents for them to stay in during their patrols. Jaspearl Tan/DMS