The Department of Education (DepEd) will temporarily oversee and manage 14 public schools in barangays that will be transferred from Makati City to Taguig City.
The decision was made by Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, who signed DepEd Order 023, which states that the schools are DepEd schools and that the Office of the Secretary will directly supervise their management and administration.
Both cities have been embroiled in a conflict over the control of the schools, with Makati officials insisting that they are still the property of the city, despite a Supreme Court ruling that transferred the barangays to Taguig City.
The DepEd order covers 14 schools in the EMBO (Enlisted Men’s Barrio) area, namely Makati Science High School, Comembo Elementary School, Rizal Elementary School, Pembo Elementary School, and Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino High School, Tibagan High School, Fort Bonifacio Elementary School, Fort Bonifacio High School, Pitogo Elementary School, Pitogo High School, Cembo Elementary School, East Rembo Elementary School, West Rembo Elementary School, and South Cembo Elementary School.
Duterte said her agency is mandated to promote every Filipino’s right to accessible, equitable, and quality basic education. Consistent with its mandate, she added, DepEd must provide a safe and enabling environment for learners, teachers, and personnel.
The agency also formed a Transition Committee composed of the regional director (assigned outside of the National Capital Region), the DepEd schools division superintendent of Taguig-Pateros, the DepEd schools division superintendent of Makati City, and the city legal officers of Makati and Taguig.
The transition committee will prepare a physical inventory of all properties involved and create a final transition plan.
The Philippine National Police will also assist during the transition period.
Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay welcomed this development.
“We welcome the decision of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to take over the management and supervision of the 14 schools. We look forward to working wholeheartedly with the transition team created by the Vice President
“This decision will greatly ease the worries and concerns of our students, parents, and teachers,’” she said.
The DepEd said it will be up to the courts to decide who owns the 14 schools built by the Makati city government in barangays that are now under the jurisdiction of Taguig, department spokesman Michael Poa said.
The Supreme Court earlier ruled with finality that areas comprising the Enlisted Men’s Barrios (EMBOs) and the entirety of Fort Andres Bonifacio belong to Taguig.
Binay, however, said the land and school buildings built in those areas were procured by the Makati City government. She noted the Supreme Court decision only tackled territorial jurisdiction and not the issue of ownership.
Binay said that since ownership of the school buildings resides with the Makati City government, she is willing to allow Taguig to use the buildings with just compensation.
The Taguig government, on the other hand, denied that it tried to forcibly take over public schools in its territory.
Taguig City said the Department of Education issued a Memorandum Order 2023-735, that transferred the management and supervision of the affected schools from the DepEd Division of Makati to the Division of Taguig and Pateros.
“Taking their cue from the DepEd Order, the public school officials, teachers, parents, community leaders, and the City of Taguig have been conducting regular meetings in preparation for the Brigada Eskwela and the opening of the school year,” a statement by the Taguig city government said.
Binay, however, noted that even the DepEd Memorandum Order makes no mention of the ownership of the school buildings “because they don’t own the schools.”
Taguig City Mayor Laarni Cayetano, meanwhile, thanked Duterte for taking a decisive role in implementing the Supreme Court decision transferring 10 barangays from Makati to Taguig.
She said that her administration looks forward to crafting the transition plan together with the Department of Education and all relevant government agencies.