The battle between Makati and Taguig

The raging word war between Makati Mayor Abigail Binay and Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano is not just a battle over 10 barangays or a war over territories, a la Russia versus Ukraine, but really the tip of an iceberg about to melt, called the inevitable clash of two political dynasties. This columnist already wrote about this on August 28, 2014.

Makati itself is “a tale of two cities” within one LGU. It is a first-class city in terms of income but with 28% poverty incidence among its poorest of the poor. In fact, there are actually two Makatis; first the Makati of the ultra-rich in the exclusive enclaves of Forbes and Dasmariñas villages, and the environs, home of the most powerful senators, congressmen, Cabinet members, foreign ambassadors, as well as the business tycoons, trade and commerce magnates and barons, the hacienderos with vast landholdings in Negros and Iloilo, the Chinese taipans and banking and shipping moguls. It’s also home of many foreign embassies where the diplomats choose to reside and hobnob with the country’s rich, famous, and influential.

Taguig was only a backward duck and fishing village in the peripheries of Laguna de Bay until the mid-nineties when President FVR transformed Fort Bonifacio into a modern city, by selling the government land to the Ayalas and other investors. To be fair, Makati was also a vast rice field, which was just a peripheral outskirts of the old and famous Manila, until the forefathers of the Ayalas developed it into a bustling metropolis. The two cities rose from being poor hinterlands during the Spanish and American eras into what they are today; rich, powerful, and strong enough to do battle with each other. By the way, the Binays were not natives of Makati, nor did the Cayetanos come from Taguig. The two families were both migrants from other places and prospered through politics.

Before the landmark Supreme Court decision, Makati had an area of only 21.57 square kilometers with a population of 629,616. It had 186,381 households and a high population density of 29,000 people per square kilometer. The number of its registered voters prior to that historic decision was 458,362 as of 2022. Today a big slice of the electorate would be transferred to Taguig. Makati is one of the country’s richest cities, with an annual income, as of 2020, of no less than ?22,387,841,645.00. Its assets were valued at ?236,729 million in 2020. But more than one fourth of its people are poor. Most of these poor residents will now be transferred to Taguig. That is why most of them are resisting the transfer because Makati has been giving them so many dole-outs on top of the national government’s poverty alleviation programs.

Taguig, on the other hand, even before the Supreme Court decision, was already bigger in area but not as rich as Makati. It has 46.21 square kilometers or more than double Makati’s area. Its population as of the 2020 census was 886,722. It has 246,873 households. It has a density of 20,000 people per square kilometer. The number of registered voters as of 2022 was 449,359, almost the same as Makati’s. Its population can now exceed the million mark after the High Court ruling. Taguig’s annual revenue as of 2020 was only ?12,755 million, too little compared to Makati’s. And the poverty incidence in Taguig is no less than 76%. More than two thirds of its people are poor. Its assets are only ?30,661 million. Definitely, Taguig suffers in comparison with Makati in terms of wealth.

The bottom line of all these is the political war for turf between the Binays of Makati and the Cayetanos of Taguig. In areas, these two LGUs are small cities compared to Quezon City and Cebu City. But the political dynasties are so entrenched that both families seem to believe that they own their respective turfs and the people are their vassals or tenants. They are both traditional politicians who do not think of more progressive things but to feed the poor peoples’ dependence on dole-outs under a culture of mendicancy and padrino systems.

The Cayetanos may be better than the Binays in terms of vision and values. But the bottom line is both families are just using the poor to advance their respective selfish agenda. They are not the true leaders that these cities need. It is time to search for better alternatives.