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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
(SDN) — The legal case between the local government units (LGUs) of the cities of Taguig and Makati, not surprisingly, truly is complex and complicated.
It covers various aspects, not the least the ownership, or to whom belong the EMBO barangays, which until the final decision recently of the Supreme Court was under the City of Makati’s governance.
Dubbed Enlisted Men’s Barrio (EMBO), the barangays are Pembo, Comembo, Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Pitogo, Northside, Southside, and Rizal.
With the High Court’s decision, one would think that everything would be a breeze. Well, not so quick.
In one of the first visits of Taguig City Mayor Maria Laarni “Lani” L. Cayetano to one of the EMBO barangays when she led the distribution of birthday cash gifts for the senior citizens of the formerly Makati governed villages, she lamented that data on the seniors — how many, names, etc. — is not yet in the possession of the city’s OSCA (Office of Senior Citizens Affairs).
As many know in Taguig, the local government unit (LGU) provides from Php3,000 to Php10,000 to seniors, depending on their age bracket. Age 100 years old is gifted with Php100,000 annually.
Of the contentious aspects in the legal dispute between the two LGUs, there’s also the issue on the transfer of jurisdiction of the health facilities from Makati to Taguig which, as a press statement from the latter’s Public Information Office (PIO) sent to members of the press showed has met setback.
The Taguig PIO noted that “After weeks of hopeful progress in the transfer of jurisdiction of the health facilities in the 10 EMBO barangays being facilitated by the Department of Health (DOH) and the agreement to fix the date of transfer on 01 October 2023, Makati City has backtracked on its commitment.”
The statement, apparently, is in response to Makati’s statements reported in the news media that Taguig was “unreasonable” in rejecting the former’s proposed agreements on the health facilities’ transfer, as well as the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) located in eight EMBO villages.
“We have initiated a series of correspondence and memorandum of agreement (MOA) proposals to the City of Taguig aimed to facilitate the smooth transfer of Makati-owned health facilities to its jurisdiction. However, these have been rejected outright, without valid reason. Unfortunately, Taguig seems adamant about taking over our hospital and health centers without acknowledging our ownership rights,” said Makati City Administrator Claro Certeza, as quoted in the Manila Bulletin on Sunday, September 24.
He said Makati Mayor Abby Binay also wrote Cayetano, proposing a MOA for OsMak.
Thus, the war of words between the two neighboring cities has again seemingly erupted.
Notwithstanding the setback the Taguig LGU assured that it “will continue to do what is right by the law and with the welfare of the people in its mind”.
The Taguig LGU mentioned in its own press statement the proposals of Makati, with the former saying the latter’s press release “leaves no room to give Makati officials the benefit of the doubt on their professed desire to overcome obstacles and avoid disruption of the delivery of public services to their former constituents.”
Taguig PIO’s statement said the other city’s claim of ownership of land and buildings in the EMBO barangays “violates the agreement with the DOH for both Makati and Taguig NOT (emphasis by Taguig PIO) to take up ownership claims of the land and buildings while the transition discussions are on-going so as not to derail the prime objective of a smooth transition of jurisdiction from Makati to Taguig.”
The City of Taguig said the other city’s press release which media outlets reported on Sunday “noted that Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano never rejected any proposal from Makati but only deferred to Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa who the DOH Regional Director said would take the lead in any discussions regarding Ospital ng Makati.”
Taguig City asserted that its legal claim to the ownership of the land and the improvements on it is “far superior”, as Makati has “no title to the lots”.
Amid the renewed war of words between the two Metro Manila cities, the City of Taguig’s “primary concern at the moment is the unhampered delivery of services to its new residents in the 10 EMBO barangays and not the pesos and cents” that Makati often brings up. (/)