Taguig, Makati tell court: Keep Pateros out of our Ft. Boni row

The city governments of Taguig and Makati insisted on their respective claims to Fort Bonifacio and urged a local court to reject a third claimant, the municipality of Pateros.

Both Taguig and Makati on Thursday filed motions seeking the dismissal of Pateros’ civil case, which was tackled in a hearing for the first time at Taguig City Regional Trial Court Branch 271.

Makati asked Judge Paz Esperanza Cortez to toss out the case or at least suspend the proceedings in view of an older pending dispute between Makati and Taguig over Fort Bonifacio.

Makati reiterated its contention that Fort Bonifacio, once part of a military reserve and now a booming commercial hub east of the city’s central business district, had been under its jurisdiction since the Spanish era and even after it was first transformed into a fort by the Americans in 1902.

It also argued that this territory extends to the seven barangays (villages) of Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Comembo, Pembo and Pitogo, a cluster of villages also being claimed by Pateros.

Four censuses from 1948 to 1980 also mapped these areas as part of Makati, it added.

“Indeed, Makati’s exercise of jurisdiction over the areas subject of this present complaint can be plainly seen from the various infrastructures put up within these barangays, like barangay halls, schools, parks, sports complexes, hospitals and health clinics, etc.,” the Makati city government said.

Taguig also sought the dismissal Pateros’ case on technical grounds, accusing its tiny neighbor of forum shopping or going to different legal venues to push its claim. It also alleged that Pateros failed to pay the correct docket fees for its petition.

Pateros, the only municipality and the smallest local government unit in Metro Manila, has filed a civil case seeking to take the 461.56-hectare Fort Bonifacio area from Taguig.

The lawsuit also seeks to take seven barangays from Makati’s control.

It also asked the court to compel Taguig and Makati to turn over the revenues they had derived from the disputed areas since Makati took over the seven barangays in 1986 and Taguig took over Fort Bonifacio in 1992.