Part Two
WHILE running a security agency may be profitable, doing business is also very risky and challenging.
This is because of the increasing level of threats and rising risks to life, limb and property that goes with the changing times. These threats and risks come from modern-day criminals and terrorists who now use unconventional weapons in their attacks.
For those engaged in the business of providing protection, three things are their cornerstones: life, credibility and capability. Bodyguards and personal security personnel engaged in protection of Very Important Persons (VIPs) must be willing to shed their lives to ensure no harm come upon their patrons or principals.
Vicencio Escaler a retired policeman and currently a bodyguard, said one can never be a bodyguard or a security escort if he is not willing to die to protect his employer. Ironically, a bodyguard or security escort must also ensure that he is alive.
“As a general rule, a bodyguard needs to be alive, since he had been tapped to keep his employer safe and protected,” Escaler (not his real name) said. “This he cannot do if he is dead. And this is where his security training and expertise comes into play.”
“You gamble with your life once you become a bodyguard. This is the reason the job is built for the toughest, the most determined ones,” Escaler added. “When you are in the police or in the Armed Forces, you get paid when you are alive and you also get paid when you die. As a bodyguard, you will only get paid when you are alive.”
He said the journey of a bodyguard begins with life and also ends with life. “You only have one thing: your life, which is your capital.”
Credibility, capability
RETIRED Police Col. Rodrigo Bonifacio, chairman of the board of the Utopia Security and Safety Solutions Inc., said the security business involves nothing but services.
And, when you talked of services, you also deal and offer nothing but credibility and capability, Bonifacio told the BusinessMirror.
With the cutthroat competition in the security market, which was borne by the continuously growing number of agencies joining the industry, a private security agency needs to be credible and capable in order to stay afloat in the business.
Credibility, track record and capability are what clients and VIPS are after, according to him.
Bonifacio said these are the reasons private security agencies like Utopia continuously train and beef up the capabilities of staff.
He said his company go by the books and does not go for hasty deployment. We deploy blue guards only after they have already completed the required training, and even some higher training, if so required, Bonifacio said. We are also very particular in equipment, he added.
Likewise, Utopia gives premium to the background of its members, including those who will be tapped by the agency to do VIP protection.
“We do not only subject them to background investigation when they apply, but continuously do so even when they are already doing their job for a client,” Bonifacio said. “This is to ensure that the client is assured of maximum protection and services.”
He added industry members should keep this as the standard.
“All the while, they are thinking that the bodyguards they have hired are doing their jobs, guarding the VIPs assigned to them,” Bonifacio said. “But it could turn out that these bodyguards are already selling their clients to the persons” aiming to harm or eliminate the client.
He added the turncoat could “burn” the agency and make it and the people behind the firm less credible. Hence, an agency should assess the compensation structure, he said.
It’s true that, compared to ordinary blue guards, bodyguards or security escorts demand more fees and compensation, according to Bonifacio. However, both should be given their fair share from the company, he said.
Security guards also perform their jobs, some even at the expense of their lives, according to Bonifacio. Thus, agencies should pay the blue guards with the required compensation and provide the benefits due to them, he added.
Numbers
THE PNP reported last year that there were about 500,000 licensed security guards around the country. This number, however, does not include those who have been employed as bodyguards or security escorts.
To note, this number is way above the memberships of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines combined.
The regular presence of security guards in almost every nook and cranny of the country, especially in highly urbanized areas, has not escaped the attention of the PNP.
The visibility of these guards prompted the PNP to tap them as force multipliers as the government grapples with crime. The PNP even acknowledged security guards as first responders in times of crimes.
The role of the members of private security agencies was highlighted during the attack by a lone gunman of the Resorts World Manila in June this year, which also exposed vulnerabilities in guards or their employers.
The attack, which claimed the lives of 38 people, prompted the PNP to order security agencies and establishments to regularly review and update their security regulations and procedures.
It also directed security firms, businesses and offices to conduct regular security and emergency drills.
To be concluded
Image credits: Nonie Reyes