Bonifacio Global City
District of Fort Bonifacio
Distrito ng Fort Bonifacio | |
|---|---|
 Bonifacio Global City | |
| Nickname(s): Bonifacio Global City, The Global City, The Fort | |
 | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Region | National Capital Region |
| Districts | Taguig City |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ma. Laarni L. Cayetano |
| • Barangay Chairman | Lino Edgardo S. Cayetano |
| Elevation | 16.0 m (52.5 ft) |
| Population (2007)[1] | |
• Total | 20,741 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (PST) |
| Zip code | 1630 to 1638 |
| Area code | 2 |
| Website | www.fbdcorp.com |
Fort Bonifacio (also Bonifacio Global City or The Global City) is a highly urbanized district in Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines that in recent years, has experienced commercial growth through the sale of military land by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). The entire district used to be the part of the main Philippine Army camp in Metro Manila, Fort Andres Bonifacio.
In 1995, Bonifacio Land Development Corporation started planning a major urban development — Bonifacio Global City. BLDC made a successful bid to become BCDA's partner in the development of the district. The Ayala Corporation through Ayala Land, Inc., and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group purchased a controlling stake in BLC from Metro Pacific in 2003. BCDA and the two companies now control Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, which oversees the master planning of Bonifacio Global City.
Fort Andres Bonifacio
| Fort Andres Bonifacio | |
|---|---|
| Taguig City, Philippines | |
| Type | Military Base |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | Republic of the Philippines, Armed Forces of the Philippines |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1930s |
| In use | 1940s-Present |
| Materials | Concrete, Steel |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Manila |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Philippine Army, Philippine Marine Corps, Philippine Navy "Seabees" |
Fort Andres Bonifacio is the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (AFP), Southern Police District and the marine base of Philippine Navy and Philippine Marine Corps located in Taguig City. It is located close to Col. Jesus A. Villamor Airbase, the national headquarters of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). The camp is named after Andres Bonifacio, the revolutionary leader of Katipunan during the Philippine revolutionary period against Spain.
During the American colonial period, the US government acquired a 25.78 square kilometer property in Taguig for military purposes. This area (TCT dated 1902) was turned into a camp and was then known as Fort William McKinley after the 25th US President, William McKinley. After the Philippines gained its political independence from the United States on July 4, 1946, the US bestowed to the Republic of the Philippines all rights of possession, jurisdiction, supervision and control over the Philippine territory except the use of their military bases. On May 14, 1949, Fort McKinley was finally turned over to the Philippine government by virtue of US Embassy Note No. 0570.
Under the AFP leadership of Gen. Alfonso Arellano, Fort McKinley was made the permanent headquarters of the Philippine Army in 1957 and was subsequently renamed Fort Andres Bonifacio,[2] after the Father of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Andres Bonifacio, whose father, Santiago Bonifacio, was a native of Makati City.
Bonifacio Global City
In 1995, Bonifacio Land Development Corporation, a consortium led by Metro Pacific, made a successful bid to become BCDA's partner in the development of Bonifacio Global City. Ayala Land, Inc. and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group purchased a controlling stake in BLC from Metro Pacific in 2003. BCDA and the two companies now control Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, which oversees the master planning of Bonifacio Global City. The Bonifacio Global City is now a rich district with a high number of skyscrapers, even if the city is still rising. Many skyscrapers are under construction and will be built in future.
Bonifacio Global City is now home to upscale residential condominiums such as Essensa, Serendra, Pacific Plaza Towers, Bonifacio Ridge, and Regent Parkway and office buildings such as Net One and Bonifacio Technology Center. Most trendy restaurants, bars, clubs, and retail outlets are located in Bonifacio High Street, Serendra, The Fort Square and Fort Strip. Meanwhile, Bonifacio Stop-over and the Car Plaza cater to motorists. Global City is anchored by a major shopping center, Ayala Land's Market! Market! and by 2013, SM Aura.
Many corporations have acquired properties and some have committed to relocate their regional or national headquarters, among them are Accenture, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Deutsche Bank, Lawson Software, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Ericsson, TetraPak, JPMorgan Chase and Safeway. Opened in late 2009, St. Luke's Medical Center consists of a 16-storey hospital building with 600 patient beds and an 11-storey medical arts building with 374 doctor's clinics and ten institutes, one each for heart, cancer, neurosciences, digestive and liver diseases, eye, orthopedics and sports medicine, pathology, pulmonary medicine, radiology, and pediatrics and child health.
The hospital is now one of the most advanced in medical technology in the Philippines administered by a highly trained staff. Coliseum and Convention Center, to be built by Northshore Holdings, Inc. and the current Taguig City administration, will be located on a 35,000 square metre site adjacent to Market! Market!. The center will include a hotel, office building, serviced apartments, a shopping center and a food court.
The Shangri-La Hotel Group in 2008 undertook the groundbreaking of Shangri-La at the Fort. Scheduled to open in 2014, Shangri-La at the Fort will be a 60-storey mixed-used landmark with 577 hotel guestrooms, 97 hotel residences and 96 luxury condominiums. It is situated along Fifth Avenue, and will be sharing the prime block with the new headquarters building and the unified bourse of the Philippine Stock Exchange which is expected to be completed in 2010.
The Embassy of the Republic of Singapore moved from Ayala Avenue in Makati to its permanent location now near the Global City's center in 2008. Leaders International Christian School of Manila, British School Manila, International School Manila, Manila Japanese School, STI College, and MGC-New Life Christian Academy - Global City are all located in the University Parkway of Bonifacio Global City. Other educational institutions in the area include the Global City Innovative College, and the Every Nation Leadership Institute. The masterplan of Fort Bonifacio was recently updated to allow efficient traffic management and circulation.
Shopping Malls located in Bonifacio Global City
- Market! Market!
- Serendra
- Bonifacio High Street
- SM Aura (coming soon)
North Bonifacio
On September 9, 2008, Taguig City former mayor and currently Congressman Sigfrido Tiñga announced and claimed that the Fort and City will build the Federal Land Tower. It will have 66 floors with the total height of 250m. When finished, it's one of the tallest building in the Philippines. The P20-billion tower is estimated to start construction by late 2008, by Federal Land, Inc. (led by its president Alfred Ty), on a 27-hectare North Bonifacio district lot (jointly owned by the Metrobank Group of Companies and the Bases Conversion Development Authority, BCDA). The first 25 floors of the skyscraper will be occupied by the Grand Hyatt Hotel (500 to 600 rooms), while the rest, by residential and commercial units.[3][4]
Forbeswood Heights
Forbeswood Heights is a residential development by Megaworld Corporation composed of six towers. Each residential tower is composed of 22 stories. There are 12 units in a floor composed of 1-bedroom and studio units which overlook a 5,500-square meter central park.[5]
McKinley Hill
McKinley Hill, a development project of Megaworld Corporation, is a 50 hectare mixed-use township of residential, office, institutional and retail centers catering to an international clientele. It is located east of Forbes Park and south of the Bonifacio Global City. One of the first institutions to locate its operations at McKinley Hill is the Embassy of the United Kingdom. The embassy building sits on a 1.2 hectare U.K. Embassy-owned development in McKinley Hill. Since July 15, 2008, The Embassy of the United Kingdom has started operations in the said facility.[6][7] The Embassy of Korea has also relocated their facilities in McKinley Hill beside the U.K. Embassy facing the C-5 Road where its main gates are located.[8] The newly opened Chinese International School Manila and Korean International School Philippines are located at Upper McKinley Road in McKinley Hill while Enderun Colleges, an international hotel school is at Park Avenue in McKinley Hill. The Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill is a mall located near the Chinese International School Manila. The mall had a soft opening on November 2009. It features a Grand Canal with gondola ride, inspired and patterned after the Venetian Hotel's Grand Canal.
Heritage Park
Heritage Park was developed by BCDA. It is a 76-hectare high-value, multi-use memorial park designed with an ideal environment, beautiful landmarks and equipped with modern interment services, crematory and other facilities. The park opened in the first quarter of 2001. Heritage Park is located on Bayani Road in Fort Bonifacio. It is between Libingan ng mga Bayani and The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Landmarks
The Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery) is a memorial ground housing 33,520 Filipino soldiers killed in Bataan, Corregidor and other battlefields in World War II. Presidents of the Philippines, national artists and other honorable Filipinos are also buried here. The Vietnam War Memorial and Korean War Memorial are located in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial is located on a prominent plateau within the limits of Fort Bonifacio. It contains the largest number of graves (17,206) of American soldiers who fought in World War II. Most of the soldiers buried at the American Cemetery lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines.
Controversies
Makati City and Taguig City have recently fought over the jurisdiction of Fort Bonifacio. A portion of the base, including the Libingan ng mga Bayani and the American Cemetery, lies within Taguig City, while the northern portion where the Global City development is centered was formerly considered part of Makati. A 2003 ruling by a judge in the Pasig Regional Trial Court has upheld the jurisdiction of Taguig over the entirety of Fort Bonifacio, including the Bonifacio Global City.[9]
Ruling
The Supreme Court on June 27, 2008 per Leonardo Quisumbing, dismissed the suit of the Makati City, seeking to nullify Special Patents 3595 and 3596 signed by Fidel Ramos conveying to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority public land in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Because of a pending civil case filed by the Taguig City government asking the court to define its territorial boundaries, Makati therefore cannot stop Taguig from collecting taxes on land located in Fort Bonifacio.[10][11][12]
Pateros Fort Bonifacio Reclaim
The Municipality of Pateros, the smallest town in Metro Manila and located near Fort Bonifacio, claims that its original land area was not its present land area of 2.10 km² but 1,040 hectares (10.4 km²) including Fort Bonifacio, particularly Barangays Comembo, Pembo, East Rembo, West Rembo, Cembo, South Cembo and Pitogo which are now part of Makati City and Bonifacio Global City which was made part of Taguig, based on documents and official maps obtained from some libraries and offices including USA Library of Congress and USA Archives. ("Susi ng Pateros Newsletter", 2000)
Pateros’ decrease in territory was accounted to a cadastral mapping in Metro Manila conducted in 1978. The late Pateros Mayor Nestor Ponce challenged the map through an objection letter dated June 23, 1978 but on January 1986, former President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 2475 which stated that Fort Bonifacio is situated in Makati and it’s open for disposition. Because of that, a boundary dispute arose which moved Pateros to request a dialogue about that with then Municipal Council of Makati in 1990. Pateros also filed a complaint against Makati at the Makati RTC in 1996 but the trial court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. The case was moved to the Court of Appeals in 2003 but the case was also denied. The same case was also moved to the Supreme Court in 2009 but it was denied again.("Susi ng Pateros Newsletter", 2009)
Supreme Court Decision
Almost 2 decades later, the Supreme Court on June 16, 2009 per Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura denied Pateros’ petition against Makati but ruled out that the boundary dispute should be settled amicably by their respective legislative bodies based on Section 118(d) of the Local Government Code. Pursuant to the decision, Pateros invited Makati to a council-to-council dialogue. This happened on October 8, 2009. Four meetings were held and at the fourth dialogue on November 23, 2009, a joint resolution was made stating that Pateros will invite the Local Government of Taguig into a council-to-council dialogue resulting to a tripartite conference between Pateros, Taguig and Makati.
See also
References
- ^ Final Results - 2007 Census of Population
- ^ Barangay West Rembo Profile
- ^ manilastandardtoday.com, RP’s tallest building will soon go up at The Fort
- ^ RP's tallest building soon to rise in Taguig gmanews.tv/story
- ^ "Forbeswood Heights' Evergreen Tower starts rising". Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. 10 June 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- ^ British Embassy in Manila
- ^ Untitled Document[dead link]
- ^ Untitled Document[dead link]
- ^ Supreme Court E-Library - G.R. NO. 168781: CITY OF MAKATI, PETITIONER, VS. THE HON. JUDGE BRICCIO C. YGAÑA, PRESIDING JUDGE, REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, PASIG CITY, BRANCH 153, AND MUNICIPALITY OF TAGUIG, RESPONDENTS DECISION
- ^ Court junks Makati’s suit to nullify Ramos patents manilastandardtoday.com
- ^ Binay v Taguig, G.R. No. 163175, June 27, 2008 supremecourt.gov.ph
- ^ Court rules against Makati in property dispute case inquirer.net
External links
- Official Website of Bonifacio Global City
- Official Website of Taguig City
- Fort Bonifacio, Taguig at WN
- Fort Bonifacio Information
- Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA)
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