On Palar Incident: Mayor Lani appeals to Makati: Wait for final ruling on Fort Boni

Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano today reiterated her appeal to Makati Mayor Junjun Binay to wait for a final ruling on the territorial dispute in Fort Bonifacio and avoid any act that would only sow confusion among residents and business establishments in the area.

Mayor Lani issued the appeal after the incident that happened in Palar Village earlier this day wherein reported members of the Makati engineering office conducted surveys in the Taguig village without authority from Taguig City government or barangay officials.

Employees of the Taguig City Hall invited the Makati engineering officials to the Taguig City Hall to discuss the matter and explain to them that they did not have authority to conduct land surveys in the area.

When the Makati employees were inside Taguig City Hall vehicles, hoards of Makati police arrived and forcibly took the Makati engineering officials.

According to the Taguig Public Order and Safety Office (POSO), one SPO1 Castrillo of the Makati police even made a threatening gesture to draw his service firearm.

“We appeal to the mayor of Makati to exercise caution and refrain from undertaking actions that only tend to sow confusion among our constituents in Fort Bonifacio. We should wait for a final ruling on the dispute before taking any action that may only cause disorder,” she said.

Mayor Lani also took notice of operations undertaken by Makati police in areas in Fort Bonifacio that are still subject of court proceedings. The actions taken by Makati in posting signs in some disputed areas of its ordinance against the use of plastic were also mentioned by the lady mayor.

“All these actions, including announcements of the imposition of number coding in Fort Bonifacio and statements on business taxes, do not help any of our causes. Again, we appeal to Mayor Binay to wait for a final ruling on the territorial dispute,” she said.

“Huwag po sana tayong magmadali at hinay-hinay lang po tayo sa ating mga aksyon.”

Mayor Lani reiterated that historically, legally and factually, Fort Bonifacio is part of Taguig and the local government will be fighting the CA decision on the dispute. ###