Home Security Starts With a Risk Assessment, Not a Shopping List, Says Resilience Expert Ace Esmeralda
On The Commanders, Esmeralda explained that families should look at their own vulnerabilities before buying cameras and locks.
“If you don’t do risk assessment, all your remedial measures are baseless,” security and risk management executive Augustus Caesar “Ace” Esmeralda said on the September 24 episode of The Commanders, a public service program on Bilyonaryo News Channel hosted by retired Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo and retired Rear Adm. Armand Balilo.
Esmeralda compares a home risk assessment to a medical checkup. Just as a doctor diagnoses a patient before giving medicine, homeowners should find their property’s weak spots before buying security products.
Your location determines your risk.
The assessment looks at both the house and its surroundings. The types of threats depend on whether your home stands alone in an open village, is inside a gated subdivision, or is a condo unit. “The environment determines your risk level,” Esmeralda said. Free-standing homes usually face threats from outside, while condo residents may have risks from within the building.
Because of this, he warns against using another community’s risk assessment for your own home. “You can’t just copy and paste the threat from one subdivision onto your own house,” he said. For example, if a house already has dogs that bark at strangers and a bright streetlight outside, the family can spend their budget on CCTV instead of more perimeter security.
The assessment should also cover natural hazards, like slopes that could have landslides, areas that flood quickly, or nearby fault lines. Esmeralda said that a household should protect three things in order: the people, the property, and the family’s ability to recover, which he calls resiliency.
Whoever leads the family, single parent or not, should share the findings with everyone at home. “You all have to be on the same page, because then you’ll know that ‘this is the threat to us’,” he said.
Neighbors are part of the plan
Fajardo recalled the defense plans she and Balilo made in the armed forces, and Esmeralda said that homes work the same way. Resilience starts with each family member, then the whole household, and then the neighbors. If neighbors know the family, they will watch the house when it is empty and report any strangers who seem suspicious.
This also applies when a family member waits outside for a tricycle. “Sila ang titingin,” he said about the neighbors. Tricycle drivers can also help by watching for suspicious people. Even neighborhood gossip, or the “marites” custom, can be helpful if someone talks about a person hanging around a house.
Fajardo said she tells barangay tanods that people who treat their neighbors badly should not expect help in an emergency. Esmeralda added that since floods and earthquakes affect whole villages, neighbors will need each other.
Technology works only when people use it correctly
A house with cameras everywhere is not secure if no one checks the footage. “It just becomes a recording studio,” Esmeralda said. The videos are only useful as evidence after a crime. To prevent crime, cameras should be visible and have a sign saying the property is under surveillance. In properties he managed, Esmeralda required operators to watch the screens.
The sign lets people know their personal data is being recorded, since a face on camera counts as personal information under the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Owners should point cameras away from public areas and neighbors’ properties. Esmeralda said that disputes about cameras aimed at a neighbor’s bedroom still go to court.
People are always the strongest and weakest part of any system. If a family member shares their PIN with a boyfriend who then tells his friends, the smart lock is no longer secure. Esmeralda compared this to posting your Wi-Fi password in public.
Drill for each scenario, and update the plan
Every situation, like a fire, earthquake, or flood, should have its own drill. Children should know where the fire extinguisher and first aid kit are. Fajardo noted that people often go back into a burning or flooded house to get their things, but Esmeralda said that life should always come before property.
Infants, bedridden relatives, and family members who use wheelchairs cannot leave on their own, so the plan should assign someone to help them during an earthquake or flood. As children grow, drills should change so each child has age-appropriate tasks.
You should reassess risks whenever your surroundings change. Esmeralda said that companies sometimes lose their assembly areas to new buildings, and homes can have similar problems if new buildings go up nearby or if roadwork causes flooding.
Keep contacts current and tested
A family group chat can warn everyone to avoid a flooded street or alert them to problems at home. Each phone should have the numbers for the barangay, police, and fire station saved, and someone should check if these numbers work. “I-try, subukan kung nagri-ring talaga” (Try it, test if it really rings), he said. Numbers from billboards might not be valid, and if a phone has no credit, you need a backup way to call from a landline.
With the southwest monsoon happening now and a possible strong El Niño coming, Esmeralda said that household risks will keep changing. Economic stress can also lead to more crime, even inside homes. He recommends starting with a risk assessment, finding specific threats, and planning how to respond and recover. “For me,” he said, “home security is also about family resiliency.”
From one household to a whole community
Esmeralda’s approach starts with one family, but the same questions apply to subdivisions, condos, and barangays. The i4C.PH 2026 national summit on security, disaster resilience, and cybersecurity will discuss these topics from November 3 to 5 at the SMX Convention Center in Clark, Pampanga.
Homeowners and parents can join on November 4, which focuses on disaster risk and crisis management with simulations and practical exercises. Homeowners’ association officers, condo property managers, and barangay officials can bring their teams for all three days, with group rates for three to ten people.
Click here to register for i4C.PH
You can find the full program at the i4C.PH Website. To stay updated about the summit and get practical tips, subscribe to the i4C.PH newsletter
Augustus Caesar Esmeralda is both the Editor-in-Chief of SecurityMatters and the Founding Chief Convenor of i4C.PH.