Fort Bonifacio

Barangay Fort Bonifacio
— District —
Skyline of Bonifacio Global City
Nickname(s): Bonifacio Global City, The Global City, The Fort
Country	Philippines
Region	National Capital Region
Local Government	Taguig City
Government
• Mayor	Laarni L. Cayetano
• Barangay chairman	Lino Edgardo S. Cayetano
Elevation	16.0 m (52.5 ft)
Population (2007)^[1]
• Total	20,741
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
Zip code	1630 to 1638
Area code(s)	2
Website	www.fbdcorp.com

Bonifacio Global City (formerly known as Fort Bonifacio) is a highly urbanized district in Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines that in recent years has experienced robust commercial growth through the sale of military land by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). The entire district used to be the part of the main Philippine Army camp in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

In 1995, Bonifacio Land Development Corporation (BLDC) started planning a major urban development — Bonifacio Global City. BLDC made a successful bid to become BCDA's partner in the development of the district. The Ayala Corporation through Ayala Land, Inc., and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group purchased a controlling stake in BLDC from Metro Pacific in 2003. BCDA and the two companies now control Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, which oversees the master planning of Bonifacio Global City. The city has a high standard of living.^{[verification needed]} The welcome combination of corporate offices, high-end residences and shopping malls, embassies, a world-class hospital, a science museum and a landscape strewn with contemporary Filipino art is the city's heart and soul.

The barangay chairman is Lino Edgardo S. Cayetano, a TV/movie director and one of the sons of late former senator Rene Cayetano.

Fort Andres Bonifacio [edit]

Main article: Fort Andres Bonifacio

Fort Andres Bonifacio
Taguig City, Philippines
Type	Military Base
Built	1930s
Construction materials	Concrete, Steel
In use	1940s-Present
Controlled by	Republic of the Philippines, Armed Forces of the Philippines
Garrison	Philippine Army, Philippine Marine Corps, Philippine Navy "Seabees"
Battles/wars	Battle of Manila

Bonifacio Global City [edit]

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Map of Bonifacio Global City.

The Burgos Circle at the Bonifacio Global City

A fountain sculpture at the Bonifacio High Street

The Bonifacio High Street

International School Manila

In 1995, Bonifacio Land Development Corporation, a consortium led by Metro Pacific, made a successful bid to become BCDA's partner in the development of Bonifacio Global City (BGC), the Home of Passionate Minds. Ayala Land, Inc. and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group purchased a controlling stake in BLDC from Metro Pacific in 2003. BCDA and the two companies control Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, which oversees the master planning of Bonifacio Global City. The Bonifacio Global City is a rich district with a high number of skyscrapers, even as the city is still rising. Many skyscrapers are under construction and will be built in future.^{[citation needed]}

Bonifacio Global City is between EDSA and C-5 Road. There are seven major access points: access from the North and West through Kalayaan Avenue which connects it to the North Gate and the Kalayaan Flyover, access from Makati in the West via EDSA through McKinley Road and to the McKinley Gate; the three main entrances (Upper East Gate, Sampaguita Gate, and Lower East Gate) from C5 highway in the East; and from the airport through the Villamor Airbase to the South Gate by Fifth Avenue. BGC is home to upscale residential condominiums such as Essensa, Serendra, Pacific Plaza Towers, One McKinley Place, The Luxe Residences, Bonifacio Ridge Twin Towers, and Regent Parkway and corporate office buildings such as Net One and Bonifacio Technology Center. Most trendy restaurants, bars, clubs, and retail outlets are on Bonifacio's High Street, The Shops at Serendra (a.k.a. Piazza), The Fort Square, and The Fort Strip. The Bonifacio Stop-over and the Car Plaza cater to motorists. BGC is currently anchored by a major shopping center, Ayala Land's Market! Market! and, by 2013, SM Aura. SM Aura or SM City Taguig is an under-construction shopping mall, owned by SM Prime Holdings (the largest mall developer in the Philippines), which will be part of the Bonifacio Civic Center. The mall will be located along C5 Road cor M.H. Del Pilar Drive (near Sampaguita Interchange). The Civic Center will also feature a Convention Center / Trade Hall that will serve the community of the entire Taguig City and will include the SM Lifestyle Mall which will house the fourth IMAX Theatre in the country.

Many Filipino and multinational corporations have acquired properties and have committed to relocate their global, regional or national headquarters in the business district, like Accenture, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Deutsche Bank, Philippine National Oil Company, Del Monte Philippines, Splash, BASF, Globe Telecom, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Hyundai, Samsung, Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Pilipinas Bronze Inc., BitMicro Networks International, Cormant Technologies Inc., SGS Global Trade Solutions Inc., EastWest Bank, Chinatrust, Lawson Software, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Ericsson, TetraPak, JPMorgan Chase, Safeway, Sony, among others.

Opened in late 2009, St. Luke's Medical Center consists of a 16-storey hospital building with 600 patient beds and an 11-storey medical arts building with 374 doctor's clinics and 10 institutes, one each for heart, cancer, neurosciences, digestive and liver diseases, eye, orthopedics and sports medicine, pathology, pulmonary medicine, radiology, and pediatrics and child health.^{[citation needed]} The hospital is one of the most advanced in medical technology in the world administered by a highly trained staff.^{[citation needed]} A coliseum and convention center which is to be built by Northshore Holdings, Inc. and the Taguig City administration, will be on a 35,000 square metre site adjacent to Market! Market!. The Bonifacio Civic Center will include a hotel, office building, serviced apartments, a shopping center, and a food court.

The Shangri-La Hotel Group in 2008 undertook the groundbreaking of Shangri-La at the Fort. Scheduled to open in 2014, Shangri-La at the Fort will be a 60-storey mixed-used landmark with 577 hotel guestrooms, 97 hotel residences and 96 luxury condominiums. It is situated along Fifth Avenue and will be sharing the prime block with the new headquarters building and the unified bourse of the Philippine Stock Exchange which is expected to be completed in 2016.

Many foreign embassies moved from Ayala Avenue in Makati to its permanent location now near the Global City's center in 2008. The masterplan of Fort Bonifacio was recently updated to allow efficient traffic management and circulation.

Educational Institutuions [edit]

Leaders International Christian School of Manila, British School Manila, International School Manila, Manila Japanese School, STI College, and MGC-New Life Christian Academy - Global City are all in the University Parkway of Bonifacio Global City. Other educational institutions in the area include the Global City Innovative College, and the Every Nation Leadership Institute.

Bonifacio Global City Center [edit]

The Bonifacio Global City Center forms the physical core of the Bonifacio Global City and is essentially designed as a three-by-three matrix of high-tech offices and residential buildings, bustling retail outlets and pedestrian-friendly roads and walkways. The grid approach ensures a city center that is easy to navigate. The 5th and 11th Avenues and 32nd and 26th Streets serve as the boundaries of the city center.^{[citation needed]}

The Retail Promenade which encompasses the 29th Street is characterized by abundant landscaped areas. Its design concept is centered on an east-west central access with well-known brands and activity pods. It offers retail at the ground level and offices at the second floor.^{[citation needed]}

The City Square Blocks feature landscaped areas and parks. This is the place for community activities, where people in Bonifacio Global City can come together. It is an ideal location for hotels, conference facilities and entertainment venues.^{[citation needed]}

The Garden Square Blocks offer mixed-use neighborhoods, each oriented toward a green landscaped park with informal play areas.^{[citation needed]}

The Main Boulevard Blocks mark the visual edge of the city center. The area is ideal for ground-level retail and public-oriented uses close to the transit center.^{[citation needed]}

Shopping areas [edit]

Market! Market!
Serendra
Bonifacio High Street
The Fort Strip
Venice Piazza^{[citation needed]}
SM Aura Premier (May 2013)
Shangri-La Mall
Uptown Mall
The Big Apple^{[citation needed]}

Church [edit]

Saint Michael Church formerly known as St. Michael Chaplaincy

Every Nation Ministries or the Victory Christian Fellowship

Utilities [edit]

An underground drainage detention structure is in place to prevent floods in Bonifacio Global City. The structure can hold 22 million liters of water and release it under controlled conditions.^{[citation needed]}
The fiber optic cabling network supports a wide range of telephone, video and data applications.^{[citation needed]}
Electric power is supplied through underground lines. Meralco will construct power substations to ensure continuous supply in Bonifacio Global City.^{[citation needed]}
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (for cooking and/or conditioning systems) is distributed through an underground piping system^{[citation needed]}
Large water reservoirs assure strong water pressure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.^{[citation needed]}

North Bonifacio [edit]

On September 9, 2008, Taguig City former mayor and current congressman Sigfrido Tiñga announced and claimed that the Fort and City will build the Federal Land Tower.^{[citation needed]} It will have 66 floors with the total height of 250m. When finished, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the Philippines.^{[citation needed]} The P20-billion tower was estimated to start construction by late 2008, by Federal Land, Inc. (led by its president Alfred Ty), on a 27-hectare North Bonifacio district lot (jointly owned by the Metrobank Group of Companies and the Bases Conversion Development Authority). The first 25 floors of the skyscraper will be occupied by the Grand Hyatt Hotel (500 to 600 rooms), the rest by residential and commercial units.^[3]^[4]

Forbestown Center [edit]

Forbestown Center is Megaworld’s 5-hectare township community, where 8 Forbestown Road, Forbeswood Heights, and Bellagio condominiums are.^{[citation needed]}

Uptown Bonifacio [edit]

The property is in the northern district of Fort Bonifacio and is near the zone where the British, Japanese, and American international schools, and other local schools are.^{[citation needed]}

McKinley Hill [edit]

Among Megaworld’s development projects in Metro Manila, the 50-hectare McKinley Hill is by far the biggest. Situated in Fort Bonifacio, the emerging center of metropolitan business, McKinley Hill has over 4,713 condominium units in 34 residential condominium buildings, 482 residential lots, and close to 300,000 square meters of office space spread across 17 offices.^{[citation needed]}

Perfectly abiding by Megaworld’s “live-work-play-learn-shop” development concept, McKinley Hill offers a complete line of residential and office facilities and amenities with single detached homes, townhouses, a mid-rise condominium, high-rise luxury residences, BPO office buildings, a Venetian-themed mall, and an events venue, all in development.^{[citation needed]} McKinley Hill plays host to the British, South Korean, and Qatar embassies.

The McKinley Hill CyberPark is the community’s very own PEZA-accredited ecozone. Soon after its launch, the CyberPark rolled out One World Square, the ecozone’s very first BPO building with 11 stories and a huge 28,900 square meters of office space. A record of sorts, One World Square achieved full occupancy, with tenants that include big-name companies, in less than two years.

Several other BPO offices followed suit, such as Two World Square and Three World Square which boast of the same scalable layout that made their predecessor a huge success. The 18 and 20 Upper McKinley Road buildings offer BPO companies prime office spaces in two 10-story buildings that offer a total of 17,142 square meters of space. The 8 Park Avenue, in turn, is composed of two six-story towers each offering 10,800 meters of office space. With 8 Park Avenue, BPO companies are given the option to lease the whole structure thus easing the strain on operating costs.

The 15-story Commerce and Industry Plaza, one of the bigger BPO hubs in McKinley Hill, features open-plan floors with uninterrupted office space of up to 2,000 square meters, perfect for multiple modular workspace layouts commonly found in BPO offices. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has aptly set up its headquarters in the building.

The Venice is a residential project that captures its namesake’s romanticism and grandeur. The project’s main draw is the man-made Grand Canal, the first of its kind in the country, where residents and guests can enjoy rides in authentic gondolas steered by singing gondoliers while taking in the sights of reconstructed Venetian landmarks seen along the Canal’s waterway.^{[citation needed]}Upon completion, The Venice will feature seven residential towers, each one resembling a fèrro – the gondola’s uniquely shaped iron head.

There are other residential projects in McKinley Hill, like the upscale McKinley Hill Village, the Spanish-Mediterranean-inspired McKinley Garden Villas, the Stamford Executive Residences, the Italian-themed Tuscany, and the affordable yet luxurious Woodridge Residences, which was designed for the more cost-conscious call center employees working in the area. The three-tower Morgan Suites Executive Residences, in turn, was designed for no-nonsense executives with its executive studios and one-bedroom units that are perfect for busy professionals.

There are three international schools in the community that effectively bring to life McKinley Hill’s “live-work-play-learn-shop” development concept. These are the Chinese International School Manila, the first English-Mandarin bilingual school in the country; the hospitality management school of Enderun Colleges, which is supported by the world-renowned Les Roches Swiss Hotel Management; and the Korean International School Philippines, the first in the country.

McKinley West [edit]

The property, at the back of Forbes Park, will be developed over the next 20 years and will bring to more than 100 hectares the total development portfolio of Megaworld at the Bonifacio Global City.

Heritage Park [edit]

Heritage Park was developed by BCDA. It is a 76-hectare high-value, multi-use memorial park designed with an ideal environment, beautiful landmarks and equipped with modern interment services, crematory and other facilities. The park opened in the first quarter of 2001. Heritage Park is located on Bayani Road in Fort Bonifacio. It is between Libingan ng mga Bayani and The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Landmarks [edit]

Manila Golf Club course

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial

Libingan ng mga Bayani

The Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery) is a memorial ground housing 33,520 Filipino soldiers killed in Bataan, Corregidor and other battlefields in World War II. Presidents of the Philippines, national artists and other honorable Filipinos are also buried here. The Vietnam War Memorial and Korean War Memorial are located in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial is on a prominent plateau in the limits of Fort Bonifacio. It contains the largest number of graves (17,206) of American soldiers who fought in World War II. Most of the soldiers buried at the American Cemetery lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines.

Juridical Cases [edit]

Makati City and Taguig City have recently fought over the jurisdiction of Fort Bonifacio because of the area's growth potential. A portion of the base, including the Libingan ng mga Bayani and the American Cemetery, lies within Taguig City, while the northern portion where the Global City development is centered was formerly considered part of Makati. A 2003 ruling by a judge in the Pasig Regional Trial Court has upheld the jurisdiction of Taguig over the entirety of Fort Bonifacio, including the Bonifacio Global City.^[5]

Ruling [edit]

The Supreme Court on June 27, 2008 per Leonardo Quisumbing, dismissed the suit of the Makati City, seeking to nullify Special Patents 3595 and 3596 signed by Fidel Ramos conveying to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority public land in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Because of a pending civil case filed by the Taguig City government asking the court to define its territorial boundaries, Makati therefore cannot stop Taguig from collecting taxes on land located in Fort Bonifacio.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Pateros Fort Bonifacio Reclaim [edit]

The municipality of Pateros, the smallest town in Metro Manila and located near Fort Bonifacio, claims that its original land area was not its present land area of 2.10 km² but 1,040 hectares (10.4 km²) including Fort Bonifacio, particularly Barangays Comembo, Pembo, East Rembo, West Rembo, Cembo, South Cembo and Pitogo which are now part of Makati City and Bonifacio Global City which was made part of Taguig, based on documents and official maps obtained from some libraries and offices including USA Library of Congress and USA Archives. ("Susi ng Pateros Newsletter", 2000)

Pateros’ decrease in territory was accounted to a cadastral mapping in Metro Manila conducted in 1978. The late Pateros Mayor Nestor Ponce challenged the map through an objection letter dated June 23, 1978. In January 1986, former President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 2475 which stated that Fort Bonifacio is in Makati and it’s open for disposition. Because of that, a boundary dispute arose which moved Pateros to request a dialogue about that with then Municipal Council of Makati in 1990. Pateros also filed a complaint against Makati at the Makati RTC in 1996 but the trial court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. The case was moved to the Court of Appeals in 2003 but was denied. The same case was moved to the Supreme Court in 2009, and it was denied again.^[9]