Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Jun-Jun” Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Makati can now exercise its jurisdiction over the contested Fort Bonifacio after the Court of Appeals lifted the preliminary injunction issued by the lower court and declared its order to be “immediately executory,” the city legal counsel said Tuesday.
The “immediately executory” order remains to be so even if the Court of Appeals decision recognizing the jurisdiction of Makati City over the Fort Bonifacio is not yet final and executory and could be challenged in the Supreme Court, according to Lawyer Pio Kenneth Dasal, head of the city’s legal department.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay has expressed eagerness to take over the disputed territory. He was supposed to lead a flag-raising ceremony on Monday at the barangay (village) hall of South Side, which is part of what Taguig calls Barangay Fort Bonifacio.
But the event was cancelled due to the inclement weather.
“We agree that the CA decision is not yet final and executory and thus, Taguig may still file an appeal. However, the lifting of the injunction last July 30, 2013 is in itself a recognition on the part of the CA that Makati may now continue exercising jurisdiction over the disputed area,” Dasal said.
The city legal officer said Makati would merely resume exercising jurisdiction over the disputed area, including the delivery of basic public services to its constituents, which it had been doing before the issuance of the “baseless” 1994 injunction.
“Before Taguig filed the case in 1993, Makati had been exercising jurisdiction over the disputed area through its Barangays Southside and Northside. This was interrupted when the injunction was issued against Makati in 1994 and Taguig took over the disputed area, in violation of the principles of injunction,” he said.
Dasal said the takeover by Taguig of Makati’s barangays was illegal and had caused the “absurd situation” where barangays supposedly under its jurisdiction participated in Makati’s local and national elections, as it had been doing since the 1970s.
In effect, the contested area in Fort Bonifacio has three barangays, two in Makati– Southside and Northside– and Barangay Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, which supposedly covers the two barangays.
“Contrary to what Taguig local officials claim, it was Taguig who took over Makati’s barangays despite the fact that the case was still pending and thus, the status quo should have prevailed,” he said.
“In other words, we are merely continuing what we have been doing before the issuance of the baseless injunction. We cannot implement the decision because it is not yet final and executory but we can already continue exercising acts of jurisdiction because of the lifting of the injunction,” the Makati legal officer added.
Earlier, Binay said the city government would declare a moratorium on tax collections for the third and fourth quarters of the year from business and commercial establishments in the Bonifacio Global City.
He also expressed his willingness to share the revenues with Taguig under a special administrative body that will govern BGC saying he wanted to help the people of Taguig.
The mayor also gave assurances that there would be no tax increases amid efforts to unify the tax rates of Makati and Fort Bonifacio, which is currently using Taguig’s rate.
Binay pointed out that Makati survived despite not being able to collect taxes from Bonifacio Global City for the past 20 years. “If we are lower then, we’ll retain our rates. If we are higher, we’ll bring it down to Taguig’s rates,” he said.
The mayor also promised “put in place proper governance and ensure the delivery of basic services” to Barangays Post Proper Northside and Post Proper Southside, the two barangays most affected by the long-running territorial dispute between the two cities.
“We must not forget the plight of residents of Barangays Northside and Southside that have lagged behind in the delivery of basic services and infrastructure development, in stark contrast with the rapidly expanding skyline of the Bonifacio Global City,” Binay said.
On August 5, the Court of Appeals Sixth Division released its ruling dated July 30, 2013 on the long-running territorial dispute between the two cities, upholding Makati’s jurisdiction over the more than 729-hectare portion of Fort Bonifacio.
The CA ordered Taguig “to immediately cease and desist from exercising jurisdiction within the disputed area and return the same to Makati,” after noting that Taguig failed to present evidence to support its claim.
Taguig initiated the dispute in 1993 when it filed a case before the Pasig Regional Trial Court, which issued an injunction in July 1994 preventing Makati from exercising jurisdiction over the said area.
Asked if there is an ongoing rift between him and the Cayetanos, Binay said the dispute was “nothing personal.” In fact, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano remained a close friend of his sister Makati Representative Abigail Binay.