CA affirms ruling finding Makati guilty of forum shopping

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed its ruling that found Makati City guilty of forum shopping in connection with its legal battle with Taguig City over ownership of portions of Fort Bonifacio, including the ritzy Bonifacio Global City.

Penned by Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon, the CA Special Former Sixth Division said in its October 3 resolution that it found no reason to reverse its Mar. 8, 2017 resolution that granted a motion from Taguig that sought to dismiss an appeal that Makati had made to invoke its ownership over the disputed areas.

Makati, in its motion for reconsideration, called for a “liberal interpretation” of the rules on forum shopping considering that the case involved “transcendental importance involving public interests.”

The CA, however, said Makati's appeal only contained a "rehash of the issues and arguments raised in its previous pleadings" which have already been passed upon in the March resolution.

In July 2011, the Pasig Regional Trial Court ruled in favor of Taguig and awarded to the city all areas comprising the Enlisted Men's Barangays, or EMBOs, as well as the area referred to as the Inner Fort in Fort Bonifacio.

In response, Makati asked the Pasig court to reconsider its decision, but at the same time elevated the matter to the CA by asking it to annul the trial court's judgment.

When the Pasig court thumbed down its motion for reconsideration, Makati filed a separate appeal with the CA, despite still having a pending petition for annulment of judgment.

Because of Makati's twin pleadings, Taguig accused the rival city of forum shopping or pursuing simultaneous remedies in two different courts. In July 2013, the CA deferred ruling on the issue of forum shopping, saying it has been rendered moot because its Seventh Division had separately tackled and resolved the matter.

The CA, in the July 2013 ruling, however ruled in favor of Makati, prompting Taguig on August 23, 2016 to seek relief from the Supreme Court, once more insisting that Makati should be penalized for abusing the legal process and committing forum shopping.

The high tribunal sided with Taguig in a ruling on June 15, 2016, prompting the city to file with the CA a motion to dismiss Makati's appeal, which the appellate court granted in its March 2017 resolution and affirmed last month.

"Guided by the Supreme Court's categorical and emphatic pronouncements that Makati is guilty of willful and deliberate forum shopping in City of Taguig v. City of Makati, we reiterate that the dismissal of this appeal is but a necessary legal consequence of Makati's own acts," the CA said.

"For it is well-entrenched in this jurisdiction that if the forum shopping is willful and deliberate, both actions (or all, if there are more than two) shall be dismissed with prejudice," it added. 

In a statement, the Makati City government claimed it is the rightful owner of the disputed lands covering 729 hectares.

Makati City legal officer and spokesperson Michael Arthur Camiña said the CA merely based its decision on "fake and spurious documents" presented by Taguig City's lawyers and not on the historical claim of the country's second richest city.

“The Court of Appeals decision mentioned in media reports today did not rule on the legal and historical evidence presented by Makati to support its rightful claim over BGC, which was upheld in another decision by the CA,” Camiña said in a press statement.

“The said CA decision did not categorically rule in favor of Taguig. As pointed out by the separate CA decision upholding Makati’s ownership of BGC, Taguig not only failed to present concrete evidence to support its claim but presented fake and spurious documents to the courts,” he added.

Camiña said the latest CA resolution was only based on Taguig City's complaint of forum shopping and not on which city has jurisdiction of parts of Fort Bonifacio.

“Makati’s claim is based on legal and historical evidence. That has not been disputed or overturned. We will continue to exhaust all legal remedies to assert our rightful claim,” he said.

Makati cited the CA's 2013 ruling which dismissed Taguig City's case against Makati City in 1993 for lack of merit and ruled that BGC is “within the territorial jurisdiction of Makati City.”

The same ruling lifted the preliminary injunction issued by the Pasig Regional Trial Court in 1994 which prevented Makati from exercising its jurisdiction in the so-called Inner Fort areas.

These include barangays Cembo, South Cembo, East Rembo, West Rembo, Comembo, Pembo and Pitogo.

The CA also declared as constitutional and valid Presidential Proclamation Nos. 2475 and 518 signed by former President Ferdinand Marcos, which state that Fort Bonifacio falls under Makati. —Virgil Lopez and Joseph Tristan Roxas/ALG, GMA News