Forbes folks want zoning plan copy; embassies worried

The Forbes Park Association (FPA) has asked the Makati City Council for a copy of the technical study on the city's proposed rezoning.

The city council plans to reclassify McKinley Road in Forbes Park from a residential to a commercial area, which would allow the construction of high-rises, as well as malls and hotels.

In his letter, FPA president Fred Borromeo asked whether it is necessary to rezone McKinley Road when proposed Ordinance 2000-01 has provided for the expansion of the Central Business District along Buendia and Chino Roces (formerly Pasong Tamo) Avenues and the commercial development of Fort Bonifacio.

An overwhelming majority of Forbes Park Homeowners Association members are against any move to commercialize the 1.6-kilometer stretch of McKinley Road, he added.

Meanwhile, representatives of various foreign embassies, legations, trade and cultural missions have expressed grave concern over plans that would reclassify McKinley Road into a commercial zone.

McKinley Road is open to selective vehicular traffic cutting from Makati City's commercial district through two high-end enclaves of Dasmariñas Village and Forbes Park to the former vast army camp of Fort Bonifacio, now a sprawling commercial and residential community.

Three high embassy officials and four ranking staff of trade and cultural missions said that "Embassy clusters" in the two villages were chosen as sites of chanceries, headquarters and domiciles of foreign governments and their representations for various home government reasons. They are normally, "by an unwritten courtesy and tradition of amity, accorded exclusion and privacy against general public vehicles and such are respected as reciprocal accommodation for friendly countries," the officials said.

In a statement, Borromeo said the majority of Forbes Park residents told city officials they want the residential village "to stay as is" during a public hearing at the Pamantasan ng Makati last week.

Close to 70 percent of the 628 homeowners vetoed the proposal not just once, but thrice, he added.

Borromeo said a handful agreed to the shift as the prices of their properties would dramatically rise because Forbes Park and neighboring Dasmarinas Village have the highest land values in the metropolis, next only to Binondo in Manila.

Policarpio Ascalon, a long-time Forbes Park resident, said the enclave was not designed to be a commercial area, and that the exclusive villages are the only areas in Makati that continues to maintain greenery.