4 Makati employees sue Taguig city government

MANILA, Philippines — Four employees of the local government of Makati filed charges of illegal detention and grave coercion against the Taguig city government yesterday in connection with the locking of the disputed Makati Park and Garden on March 3.

Three counts of illegal detention and one count of grave coercion were filed before the Taguig prosecutor’s office against Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano; city administrator Jose Luis Montales; Maria Theresa Veloso, head of business permits and licensing office; Traffic Management Office head Danny Cañaveral and other personnel who introduced themselves as personnel of the city government.

In separate complaint-affidavits, Makati employees Salvador Mercado, Ryalyn Almazar and Salvador Palisa claimed they were harassed and detained against their will by several Taguig personnel claiming to have acted on the orders of Cayetano.

These involve three separate incidents on March 1 to 3, all in the vicinity of the Makati Park and Garden.

On March 1, Palisa, an employee of the Makati department of environmental services in charge of the maintenance of the park, said several individuals chained and padlocked the gate and blocked the entrances to the Makati Park and Garden. He said that he was locked in for two days.

Almazar, of Makati’s youth and sports development department, said she and her colleagues were not allowed to leave the Makati Aqua Sports Arena (MASA). She said they were trapped for several hours.

Mercado said that he was prevented from leaving the Makati Park Amphitheatre for one day on March 3. He said he was told that the park did not have a permit from Taguig.

Joven Mediavillo, the fourth complainant, said a man wearing a Taguig vest shouted at him and prevented him from entering MASA. Mediavillo said he waited but the gate remained locked and he was not allowed entry.

Makati government spokesman Michael Arthur Camina clarified that the charges were brought by the city employees themselves and the city government is not involved in the case.

The Taguig city government earlier ordered the closure of the park for allegedly not having the necessary permits to operate. The closure came after Taguig employees were supposedly barred from entering the facility on March 1 by Makati’s public safety department.

In response, Makati called Taguig’s move “inhumane and ungodly,” saying the closure trapped the former’s employees inside.

It called Taguig a “bully” as the latter’s enforcers blocked all entrances, erected barricades and deployed 100 personnel to surround the perimeter of the park.

On March 1, Makati condemned the attempt of Taguig enforcers to “forcibly” enter the park and garden, which is located in Barangay West Rembo, one of the 10 enlisted men’s barrio or “embo” barangays that are now under the jurisdiction of Taguig.

In 2021 and 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Taguig, giving it jurisdiction over the 10 “embo” barangays.