Makati mayor sees ‘takeover’ of Bonifacio Global City in 2 weeks
By Jaymee T. Gamil
Philippine Daily Inquirer
5:54 am | Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
MANILA, Philippines—A day after the Court of Appeals sided with Makati city on a two-decade-old dispute with Taguig city over Fort Bonifacio, the former’s local government is already prepping for a “smooth transition.”
“Expect that maybe in two weeks, you will see the presence of Makati there,” Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. said in a press briefing in his office on Tuesday morning.
“We will make our presence felt in the area. We will place our personnel there, then start implementing our laws,” he said, adding that he has been meeting with the Makati assessor, engineer, administrator and some businessmen operating in the two cities.
“There” refers to a territory bordering the two cities, composed of the Embo barangays (villages)—Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Comembo, Pembo and Pitogo, and Inner Fort barangays Post Proper Northside and Southside.
The appellate court, in a 37-page promulgation last July 30, confirmed that the disputed areas were within the territorial jurisdiction of Makati, and ordered Taguig to “immediately cease and desist from exercising jurisdiction within the disputed area and return the same to Makati.”
Under the territorial dispute, which started in 1993, Binay said a preliminary injunction was issued against Makati in 1994 from exercising jurisdiction over the Inner Fort. This injunction was also lifted by the CA decision.
“We couldn’t move there because of the injunction, but now it’s been lifted, we can move forward. We really need to fix that place. They were the ones who were most victimized,” Binay said, adding that the Barangays Northside and Southside residents have been suffering from faulty roads, utilities and land distribution.
Binay said that losing BGC would mean a huge financial blow to Taguig City. “I was thinking it may also affect their status as a city, because they will have reduced revenue and land area—which are some basis to determine cityhood. They might revert back to municipality.”