Trial court asked to stop Taguig from ‘seizing’ Makati properties

By John Victor D. Ordoñez Reporter

MAKATI CITY Mayor Marlen Abigail Binay-Campos has asked a Taguig regional trial court (RTC) to temporarily bar the Taguig City government from taking possession of disputed properties to allow the Makati City government to resume its delivery of basic services to these areas.

In a statement, the Makati City government said Ms. Binay sought on Monday a status quo ante order, which would prevent a party — in this case, the Taguig City government — from taking further action, requiring it to seek a writ of execution first before taking possession of a property.

A writ of execution puts in force a judgement on the transfer of possession of certain properties. In this case, the writ should come from the Supreme Court (SC), which ruled with finality last April Taguig City’s ownership of the 729-hectare Bonifacio Global City Complex and 10 “EMBO” (enlisted men’s barrio) villages.

“Makati only wants an orderly administration of the Supreme Court decision with the least disruption to the residents and the uninterrupted delivery of basic services in the affected areas,” Ms. Binay said.

Last July, Ms. Binay said that the Makati City government respects the SC decision. However, she insisted that buildings and facilities constructed by the Makati City government in these areas remain owned and controlled by Makati, unless Taguig pays for them.

“The present case involves a territorial dispute. It does not involve ownership of properties located within the disputed territory,” Thursday’s statement of Ms. Binay reiterated.

She said the legal action stemmed from incidents of the Taguig City government seeking to take possession of school buildings and health centers recently on account that they stand on the property awarded in its favor by the High Court.

The Taguig City government did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on the matter of the status quo ante order being sought by Makati City.

But in previous statements, the Taguig City government asserted the management and supervision of the 14 schools in question based a memorandum order (MO) from the DepEd transferring such jurisdiction from the DepEd Schools Division of Makati to the Schools Division of Taguig and Pateros.

Ms. Binay has blamed this assertion by Taguig City for preventing the Makati City government from providing assistance and services, such as school supplies, to the 30,000 students affected in the 14 schools.

Again, Taguig has denied this claim and insisted that the Makati City government’s statements were “misleading and patently false” so as to discredit Taguig’s efforts to prepare the schools for the opening of classes.

Still, Ms. Binay argued that the High Court’s decision was never meant to be immediately executory, adding that Taguig must secure a writ of execution before taking possession of the subject villages.

A trial court in 1994 stopped the Makati City government from exercising jurisdiction over parcels of land that made up Fort Bonifacio, including the so-called Inner Fort that comprises the villages of Pembo, Comembo, Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo and Pitogo.

The Philippine Army headquarters, Navy installation, Marines’ headquarters, Consular area, Joint US Military Assistance Group area, Heritage Park, Libingan ng mga Bayani, AFP Officers Village and six villages are in these areas.