As far as the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) is concerned, Fort Bonifacio, including Bonifacio Global City (BGC), will remain under the control of the Taguig City police.
This was the announcement made on Monday by NCRPO deputy director for administration Chief Supt. Pat Hernandez during a meeting with government and police officials from the cities of Taguig and Makati.
NCRPO spokesperson Chief Insp. Robert Domingo on Friday confirmed the information in a phone interview. “The NCRPO-PNP’s position is to [observe] the status quo, pending directives from higher headquarters. Whatever is the present setup, we will retain that,” he told the Inquirer.
He added that the NCRPO was not in a position to determine if the July 30 decision of the Court of Appeals’ 6th Division was immediately executory or not.
The ruling which ended a 20-year-old dispute between the two cities had ordered Taguig officials “to immediately cease and desist from exercising jurisdiction within the disputed area and return the same to Makati.”
Southern Police District director Chief Supt. Jose Erwin Villacorte who attended Monday’s meeting also confirmed the “verbal directive” from the NCRPO although he said they were still waiting for the written order as of Tuesday.
For his part, Taguig police chief Senior Supt. Arthur Asis said that in line with the NCRPO directive, “police patrol and traffic management in BGC would remain with Taguig.”
He added that he expected the status quo to be observed until the appellate court has ruled on the motion for reconsideration filed by the Taguig City government last week in the Court of Appeals.