THE CITY OF MAKATI

An assignment

Presented to

MR. MARECON C. VIRAY, MPA

Faculty of the Department of Public Administration

College of Public Affairs

Maindanao State University

Marawi City

In partial fullfilment

of the requirements for the course

PA 132( Comparative Local Government Administration)

 By

SOWAIB L. BANTUAS

May 2017
DESCRIPTION

Makati City belongs to the seventeen urban centers that define Metro Manila, one of the

most highly populated Metro regions anywhere. Having a population of over half a million

people, Makati is rated as the 42nd most densely populated city in the world, with roughly 7,200

residents per square mile. Makati is notable for its exceptionally multicultural lifestyle, and for

it's reputation as a major entertainment center in the Manila area. Expatriates often choose to live

in Makati, which has caused a large expatriate community to grow in the area with citizens from

all over the world. Makati is well known also for its top notch shopping and department stores,

found in the Greenbelt, Rockwell Center, Glorietta Mall, and Ayala Center. The city also also

boasts the tallest building in the Philippines with the PBCom Tower.

Housing a variety of diverse national embassies, Makati is known as a significant center for

intercontinental matters. But most of all, Makati stands out as the economic heart of the

Philippines as well as one of several key financial, professional and commercial centers within

all the Asian countries. And for this reason, and for the fact that it also houses the influential

Makati Business Club and the Philippine Stock Exchange, Makati has rightfully earned the

nickname and status of the Financial Capital of the Philippines.

MAKATI CITY VISION

"Makati shall lead the Philippines into the 21st Century: its global and national

enterprises, leading the creation of a new, responsible and sustainable economy; its

citizens, productive, empowered and God-loving."

CITY GOVERNMENT MISSION

The Makati City Government will be the model for world-class local governance:

providing for the well-being of its citizenry through delivery of the highest level of basic,

social, and economic services with breakthrough technologies, sustainable financing, and

competent, responsible and professional civil servants.

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF MAKATI

Pre-Hispanic to Spanish Colonial Period

The present Makati City has its roots as a pre-Hispanic settlement in the swamplands near Pasig

River led by Lakan Tagkan and his wife Bouan. Don Manuel Lopez de Legaspi, founder of

Manila and the first Governor General of the Philippines discovered the area and was told that

the river's tide was ebbing by the residents - Makati na, Kumati na. Legaspi thought this was

the response to his query as to what the place is called. The settlement was renamed San Pedro

de Makati after its patron saint. A visita of Santa Ana de Sapa, Makati was under the jurisdiction

of the Franciscan friars from 1600-1700. Two (2) of the earliest Catholic churches - Nuestra

Seora de Gracia in Guadalupe and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul - are located in Makati.

In 1890, San Pedro de Makati was decreed a public town of Manila.

American Commonwealth Period

After the Americans took over the control of the island of Luzon from the Spaniards at the turn

of the 20th century, San Pedro de Makati was incorporated into the province of Rizal under

Commonwealth Act No. 137 in June 11, 1901. In the same year, the Americans established Fort
William McKinley as a military reservation. In 1902, the Americans described the town as a

pueblo on the south shore of Pasig River, known for a resort for convalescents, with a

population of 3,921. A year later, a town administrator was installed to supervise community

affairs. San Pedro de Makati remained a third-class agricultural town wherein the primary means

of livelihood came from the cultivation of rice and horse fodder. In 1914, Philippine Legislature

Act No. 2390 shortened the name of the town to its present name of Makati. During the birth of

commercial aviation before the Second World War, Nielson Airport opened in what is now the

Ayala Triangle, the first airport in the country.

Post-Second World War to the Present

A master-planned mixed-use community was established in the 1950s in Makati. Makati in the

1970s was a financial and commercial center and part of the National Capital Region (Metro

Manila). Makati became a City with the enactment of Republic Act No. 7854 and a plebiscite

approval in 1995 during the term of former Mayor Jejomar C. Binay---now the Vice President of

the country. Makati has been described as a City of three areas: the Central Business District, the

Old Town or Poblacion area, and the Fort Bonifacio area.