“This landmark decision will doubtless be a bulletin board for other local government units who are parties to similar disputes”
RECENTLY, the Court of Appeals has shut the door on Makati City’s long-standing claim over Fort Bonifacio, affirming the Supreme Court’s ruling that Taguig City has jurisdiction over Fort Bonifacio and the Enlisted Men’s Barangays or the popularly known EMBOs.
This effectively ends Makati City’s claim over the disputed territory, which includes Bonifacio Global City, with the appellate court ruling a writ of execution or further guidelines were not needed to enforce the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision.
According to court records, the Supreme Court has spoken with finality: Fort Bonifacio and the surrounding barangays are part of the City of Taguig, with the court ruling as far back as 2021 in favor of Taguig.
The local city governments of Makati and Taguig were the parties in the territorial dispute, with each city claiming jurisdiction over the entirety of the Fort Bonifacio military reservation, which includes the financial district of Bonifacio Global City and the Enlisted Men’s Barrios or barangays.
Court records showed in a decision released on April 27, 2022, the Supreme Court made permanent the 1994 Writ of Preliminary Injunction that Makati shall refrain from exercising jurisdiction over, making improvements on, or otherwise treating as part of its territory the Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation.
In a two-page Resolution dated Sept. 28, 2022, the Court’s Special Third Division, in G.R. 235316 (Municipality of Makati [now City of Makati] v. Municipality of Taguig [now City of Taguig]), denied with finality the Makati City government’s omnibus motion for reconsideration of the Court’s Dec. 1, 2021 Decision, on the ground the basic issues raised therein have been duly considered and decided on by the Court in the assailed Decision.
The Court also denied Makati City’s omnibus motion to refer the instant case to the Court En Banc, as the Court En Banc is not an Appellate Court to which decisions or resolutions of a Division may be appealed.
It also upheld the 2011 Pasig RTC ruling that declared the 729 hectares Bonifacio Global City complex, along with several surrounding barangays of Makati (PEMBO, COMEMBO, CEMBO, South CEMBO, West REMBO, East REMBO, and Pitogo), was under the jurisdiction of the Taguig city government.
The Court of Appeals has ruled that a writ of execution or additional guidelines are unnecessary to enforce a 2022 ruling issued by the Supreme Court which declared that Fort Bonifacio – including Enlisted Men’s Barrios (EMBO) barangays – falls under the jurisdiction of Taguig City and not Makati.
The appellate court’s Third Division dismissed a petition filed by the local government of Makati that sought to reverse orders by Taguig City’s Regional Trial Court Branch 153, which denied its motion to clarify the proper and orderly implementation of the SC decision.
These were released in Dec. 2023 and Feb. 2024, with the 19-page ruling issued on May 28 penned by Associate Justice Jaime Fortunato Caringal.
In law, “finality” is the term which refers to when a court renders a final judgment on the merits, sometimes used interchangeably with res judicata, often referred to as “claim preclusion.”
Res judicata refers to the principle by which one judgment has a binding effect on subsequent proceedings and prevents the re-litigation of claims that were or could have been raised in a prior proceeding.
Finality refers to the conclusive nature of a court’s judgment, meaning it resolves the issues at hand and leaves no further action required by the court. It is a fundamental aspect of legal proceedings because it ensures that once a decision is made, it can be relied upon as the final word on that particular case.
This landmark decision will doubtless be a bulletin board for other local government units who are parties to similar disputes.