September 13, 2026

Guardia Sibil Workshop: Training the Guards Who Now Welcome Photographers to Intramuros

For years, the most common photo taken in Intramuros was the one you did not get to take. A raised hand, a shake of the head, and the phrase every Filipino photographer knows by heart: bawal mag-shoot dito. In July 2026 that changed at the top, when the Intramuros Administration confirmed photographers are welcome in the Walled City. In August, it changed on the ground. Over three days at Fort Santiago, CameraHaus and the Intramuros Administration sat every one of its security officers down for a workshop on etiquette and basic photography. This is how it went.

EventGuardia Sibil Workshop, part of the Intramuros Creator Experience Workshop

DatesAugust 3 to 5, 2026. Three days, five batches

VenueTeatro, Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila

ParticipantsAll security personnel of the Intramuros Administration

FacilitatorsMary Louise Custodio, Aron Garcia, Red Auxilian, Robenson Ong Lo

Organized byIntramuros Administration and CameraHaus, with Mel Cortez of Photomarket Philippines

How we got here

This workshop did not start in August. It started with a conversation. Photographers had been reporting for years that they were being stopped in Intramuros for carrying a camera that looked too serious. The frustration had a name, Bawal Mag-Shoot Dito, and a movement behind it led by Mel Cortez. In July, CameraHaus Vice President Robenson Ong Lo brought Mel, veteran photojournalist Edwin Tuyay, and Intramuros Administrator Atty. Joan M. Padilla to the same table. The outcome was clear and public: personal and souvenir photography in Intramuros is allowed and free. You can read that story in our post From "Bawal Mag-Shoot Dito?" to "Welcome to Intramuros".

A policy on paper is only half the job. The other half is the officer at the gate who has to apply it, usually to a stranger with a camera, in the heat, while also keeping a 400-year-old fort safe. The Intramuros Administration and CameraHaus agreed the officers deserved more than a memo. They deserved training. So the Guardia Sibil Workshop became the first activity of the new partnership.

Mary Louise Custodio speaking to Intramuros security personnel in front of a slide showing a 2015 news article about the No Pay, No Photo issue — The session opened with history. A 2015 headline about the "no pay, no photo" complaints that started the Bawal Mag-Shoot Dito movement.

Three days, five batches, every officer

The Intramuros Administration cannot pull its entire security force off duty at once, so the workshop ran in five batches across three days at Teatro, the vaulted hall inside Fort Santiago. Every batch got the same two sessions: professional etiquette in the morning, basic photography after.

Day 1 · August 3Personality development and professional etiquette with Robenson Ong Lo and Mary Louise Custodio. Basic photography with Red Auxilian. Day 1 recap
Day 2 · August 4Professional etiquette with Mary Louise Custodio. Basic photography with Aron Garcia. The photos in this post are from this day. Day 2 preview · IA's Day 2 report
Day 3 · August 5The final batch. Basic photography with Red Auxilian. Atty. Joan M. Padilla and Robenson Ong Lo visited to close the program. IA's Day 3 report · Wrap-up

Wide view of the vaulted Teatro hall in Fort Santiago filled with seated Intramuros security personnel watching a basic photography slide — Teatro, Fort Santiago. A whitewashed vault under the walls, full of officers in the Guardia Sibil uniform.

Session one: security and photographers are partners

Mary Louise Custodio ran the professional etiquette session, and she did not start with rules. She started with the complaints. Real ones, read aloud, from photographers who had been turned away or profiled for carrying a DSLR. It is uncomfortable to hear your workplace described that way, and the room went quiet. Then she turned it around: most of those photographers came to Intramuros because they love it. The officers and the photographers want the same thing.

The slide that stayed on screen longest listed the common goals:

Preserve Intramuros
Ensure safety
Protect visitors
Promote tourism
Create a positive visitor experience

Under it, one line that could be the whole workshop in a sentence: security and photographers are partners in showcasing the beauty of Intramuros.

Mary Louise Custodio smiling with a microphone in front of the Our Common Goals slide during the professional etiquette session for Intramuros guards — Mary Louise Custodio and the common goals slide. Preserve, protect, promote, welcome.

Mary Louise Custodio standing beside rows of seated Intramuros security personnel and speaking into a microphone — Less lecture, more conversation. Officers were asked what they actually face at the gates.

The practical part covered how to approach someone with a camera, how to tell personal shooting from a commercial production, what to say instead of a flat no, and where to send people who do need a permit. Small changes in wording, she pointed out, are the difference between a tourist who leaves angry and a tourist who posts a photo captioned "Intramuros was so welcoming."

Session two: a camera is not a threat, it is a tool

After lunch, photographer Aron Garcia took over for basic photography. The goal was not to turn security officers into photographers. It was to make a camera feel familiar, so that the next time an officer sees one, they see a hobby instead of a problem. And, on the days when a tourist asks a guard to take their picture in front of the fort, to make sure that photo comes out well.

Aron taught in Filipino, with slides written for people who had never held a dedicated camera. What a point-and-shoot is and why a compact like the Ricoh GR is exactly the kind of camera visitors carry. Where the shutter button is. What the mode dial does. Why there has to be light, a slide simply titled "Dapat may ilaw," and how to stand so the sun helps rather than hurts.

Photographer Aron Garcia presenting a slide about point-and-shoot cameras showing a Ricoh GR held in a hand during the Intramuros basic photography workshop — "Point-and-shoot kamera." Aron Garcia explains the compact camera most visitors carry.

Aron Garcia holding a camera while a slide behind him points out the shutter button and camera dial for Intramuros security personnel — Shutter button, mode dial. The basics, taught so anyone can help a visitor with their shot.

Then he walked into the rows with a camera and a microphone and made the officers do it. Hold the camera. Find the button. Frame the person next to you. The room that had been quiet for the complaints was loud for this part. Officers who had spent years telling people to put cameras away were now arguing about who framed the better shot.

Aron Garcia leaning into the audience to hand a microphone to a smiling Intramuros security officer during the workshop — Hands-on means hands on. Aron puts the mic, and the camera, in the officers' hands.

Rows of Intramuros security personnel in light blue uniforms laughing together during the CameraHaus basic photography workshop — The photography session got loud in the best way.

"Security and photographers are partners in showcasing the beauty of Intramuros."From the professional etiquette session slides, Teatro, Fort Santiago.

The red pin

Every officer who completed the workshop received a red "Capture Intramuros" pin. It is small, it sits on the uniform, and it means something specific: this officer has been trained and knows that photography is welcome here. If you are shooting in Intramuros and you see the pin, that is the person to ask for directions to the best angle of the Manila Cathedral.

Intramuros security officers pinning red Capture Intramuros pins onto each other's uniforms at the end of the Guardia Sibil Workshop — Officers pin each other. The red Capture Intramuros pin marks a workshop graduate.

Intramuros security personnel standing with right hands raised taking a pledge at the close of the workshop in Fort Santiago — A pledge to close the day. Welcome first, then everything else.

What this means if you shoot in Intramuros

You are welcome

Personal and souvenir photography is allowed and free. That is now policy, and every security officer has been told so in person.

Look for the red pin

Officers wearing the Capture Intramuros pin have completed the workshop. They know the rules and can help.

Commercial shoots still need a permit

Pre-nups, fashion editorials, and productions with crews go through the Intramuros Administration first. The officers now know the difference.

Respect goes both ways

The officers were trained to approach photographers with courtesy. Return it. Follow site rules, stay off restricted areas, and treat the walls like the 400-year-old heritage they are.

More is coming

The Intramuros Administration has said the workshop is the first activity of the partnership, with more programs for creators to follow. Keep an eye on @intramurosph.

Close view of Intramuros security personnel in uniform seated and listening attentively during the Guardia Sibil Workshop — The people who will make the policy real, one visitor at a time.

Why CameraHaus did this

We sell cameras. We also know that a camera nobody feels safe using is not much of a camera. Intramuros is the most photographed square kilometre in the Philippines, and for too long the photography community treated it as a place to be careful in rather than a place to be creative in. Sitting in a vault at Fort Santiago watching a security officer frame his first photo felt like the most useful thing we did all year.

Thank you to the Intramuros Administration and Administrator Atty. Joan M. Padilla for opening the doors and the calendar. To Mel Cortez of Photomarket Philippines and Bawal Mag-Shoot Dito, for keeping this conversation alive for more than a decade. To Mary Louise Custodio, Aron Garcia, and Red Auxilian, for teaching five batches with the same energy as the first. To Robenson Ong Lo for turning a meeting into a program. And to every Guardia Sibil who sat through the complaints, picked up a camera, and put on the pin.

Go shoot Intramuros

The walls are open. Bring your camera, a compact if you want to travel light, and say hello to the officer with the red pin.

Compact cameras Ricoh GR Watch the IA partnership video

Frequently asked questions

Can I take photos in Intramuros without a permit?

Yes, for personal and souvenir photography. The Intramuros Administration confirmed this in July 2026, and every security officer has since been trained on it. Commercial and special-occasion shoots still require a permit from the Intramuros Administration.

What was the Guardia Sibil Workshop?

A three-day training program from August 3 to 5, 2026 at Teatro, Fort Santiago, run by the Intramuros Administration and CameraHaus. Five batches covered every IA security officer with a professional etiquette session and a basic photography session.

Who facilitated the sessions?

Mary Louise Custodio and Robenson Ong Lo handled professional etiquette and personality development. Photographers Red Auxilian (Days 1 and 3) and Aron Garcia (Day 2) taught basic photography. Mel Cortez of Photomarket Philippines collaborated on the program.

What does the red Capture Intramuros pin mean?

The officer wearing it has completed the workshop and knows that photographers are welcome in Intramuros. They are a good person to ask for help or directions.

Follow the story

Read where it began: From "Bawal Mag-Shoot Dito?" to "Welcome to Intramuros". See the announcement post on Instagram, and the Intramuros Administration's partnership video.

Find your nearest CameraHaus branch or browse compact cameras built for walking the Walled City.

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