Don’t derail Makati subway

The territorial dispute between the cities of Makati and Taguig that was resolved with finality by the Supreme Court in 2021 in favor of the latter has claimed another unintended victim. In a filing at the Philippine Stock Exchange last week, the private proponent of the P200-billion Makati subway project warns that “the alignment of the subway will no longer be feasible” due to the high tribunal’s ruling, adding that it has written the Makati City government “an intent notice to propose the commencement of discussions in light of the change in law the Supreme Court decision brings.”

Philippine InfraDev Holdings Inc. said in the disclosure that the high court’s decision transferring jurisdiction over the 10 “Embo” (enlisted men’s barrios) barangays, including the bustling business district of Bonifacio Global City, will affect the train depot in Barangay Cembo and the proposed stations near the University of Makati and Ospital ng Makati.

The 11-kilometer Makati subway project, signed in 2019, is one of the biggest local government and private sector joint venture infrastructure projects linking critical areas in the Makati business district.

Under the agreement, the Makati City government transferred the beneficial ownership of properties with a combined area of 7.9 hectares in Makati City to Philippine InfraDev in exchange for the issuance of preferred shares in the company. In 2021, Philippine InfraDev awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the first 8-kilometer phase of the Makati subway project to state-owned China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Co. Ltd. The Makati subway project, Makati Mayor Abby Binay said earlier, will provide 10,000 jobs in the construction and the operation of the railway.

Although a local government undertaking, the Makati subway will be a vital component of the public transport network in the highly congested metropolis where traffic jams and a shortage of mass transport are worsening. It will help commuters from many parts of Metro Manila. For instance, Philippine InfraDev and the proponent of a key sky train in Bonifacio Global City already agreed in 2019 to form a vital interconnection at the Edsa-Guadalupe junction, giving commuters a mass transit option between the central business districts of Makati and Taguig where traffic gridlock is an everyday problem. Philippine InfraDev had said that the common station for the Makati subway system and the proposed Skytrain of tycoon Andrew Tan’s Infracorp Development Inc. will have access and connection to the MRT3 Guadalupe Station and the Pasig River ferry system, making it a vital link in the metro’s public transport network.

Scuttling this important project that has already started will do more harm to commuters who have been reeling long enough from a lack of reliable public transport. To salvage the project, the local government of Taguig must fully support its continuation. If Makati has titles to the land covered in its agreement with Philippine InfraDev, then there should be no problem with the subway’s alignment. As former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban opined in his column in this paper last Aug. 21, “[p]roprietary rights are … not affected by a change of political boundaries. Titles to real estate and other property are not altered, erased, or diminished by a change in local governance. Thus, if Makati has Torrens Certificate of Titles over the land on which the schools, hospitals, police stations, etc. it claims to own, and the facilities it funded thereon, then its absolute ownership subsists together with the rights of ownership flowing therefrom …”

However, as Panganiban noted, the Supreme Court decision means that Taguig has “governance powers and functions delegated to it by the Constitution and the law, including the power to impose taxes (especially real estate taxes), to issue (or not to issue) business permits and licenses, and to receive a share in the revenues collected by the national government.” Thus, Taguig can make life hard for Philippine InfraDev insofar as securing the necessary local government approvals is concerned.

Negotiations among the private proponent and the local governments of Makati and Taguig need to be started immediately to come up with a win-win solution to this issue. If necessary, Makati City must be willing to give an equity share to Taguig by virtue of the high tribunal’s ruling. Taguig, for its part, must issue the necessary permits for Philippine InfraDev to proceed with the subway project. Egos should not be involved. As Panganiban suggested, “[w]ith patience, reason, and logic, the controversies [arising from the Supreme Court decision] need not deteriorate into confrontation and further confusion.”

The high court’s decision need not derail a vital mass transport system that can ease commuters’ woes. It is originally scheduled to operate by 2025 and abandoning it now will inconvenience commuters eagerly awaiting its completion. The subway’s fate now really rests solely on the local government of Taguig supporting it.