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 with a fresh assault of disinformation.
Their recent distribution to members of the media of a press release titled โTaguigโs โunreasonableโ rejection of Makati proposals impedes smooth transfer of city-owned health facilities, services โ City Administratorโ 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.
What Makati deliberately suppresses in its press release is that its proposed Memorandum of Agreements are anchored on the false premise that they own the land and the health centers built thereon. This ย โunwavering stanceโ that the land and facilities built thereon โunequivocally remain firmly under the purview of the City Government of Makatiโ shamelessly violates the agreement with the DOH for both Makati and Taguig NOT 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.
In making its ownership claim non-negotiable, when the agreement with the DOH was to temporarily shelve the issue, ย Makati ย acts in utter bad faith and with reckless disregard to the welfare of their former residents. It is sad that, having lost the votes of the residents of the 10 barangays, Makati officials feel no moral scruples in abandoning them.
Indeed, if Makati was sincere, it should have already rejected the DOHโs plea that the issue of ownership should be set aside at this point of the transition. Makati took DOH and Taguig for a ride as Makati had no intention all along to negotiate unless Taguig yields first to Makatiโs baseless claim of ownership.
As regards Ospital ng Makati, the press release itself 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.
These kinds of deceptive and manipulative behavior from public officials weaken public trust and must not be tolerated. We ask all responsible members of the media to scrutinize and dig deeper into any self-serving propaganda it receives from all parties.
To be clear, Taguig has far superior legal claim to the ownership of the land and the improvements thereon. Makati has no title to the lots, and indeed has not shown the public the titles that should support its claim. It is a builder in bad faith, constructing the facilities despite being aware of the flaws in its titles and in defiance of the injunction issued by the Regional Trial Court of Pasig enjoining it from exercising jurisdiction over and making improvements on the 10 barangays. What more, it constructed the facilities using the taxes that it illegally extracted and received from its unlawful occupation of Taguigโs territory.
And what Makati owes Taguig (in internal revenue allotment/national tax allotment, Special Education Fund, real property, business, and other local taxes Makati illegally exacted or received for decades, not to mention the compensation Makati owes Taguig for unlawfully depriving Taguig of the use and enjoyment of its land), is far greater than what Makati hopes to receive from Taguig.
It now appears that Makati does not want to overcome obstacles to a smooth transition. Instead, its agenda is to put up all kinds of obstacles in the futile hope that it could delay ad infinitum the implementation of the Supreme Courtโs final decision.
But Taguigโs 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 and Makati always brings up every chance it gets.
The City of Taguig, despite the persistent attempts of Makati officials to mislead the public, will continue to do what is right by the law and with the welfare of the people in its mind.
