Makati Islands Philippines
History of Makati
From a distance, at ground level, the skyscrapers of Makati are an impressive sight. But you should see Makati from a plane or a helicopter. The view is simply majestic. And to think that when it was founded in 1670 - as a visita of Sta. Ana de Sapa under the jurisdiction of the Franciscans - this was swampland, practically a wilderness, dismissed by Juan Miguel de Legazpi as worthless in 1571.
Yet over the centuries, this small community would leave large imprints in social, economic and cultural history. The friars established two of the earliest churches in the Philippines - the Nuestra Señora de Gracia in Guadalupe and the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul - in Makati, drawing pilgrims from all over the country.
At the turn of the century, the Americans established Fort McKinley in Makati, and in 1901, San Pedro de Makati, with a population of 2,500, was incorporated into the province of Rizal. On February 28, 1914, the Philippine Legislature passed Act 2390, shortening the name San Pedro Makati to Makati in the 1930's, the first airport, Nielson Airport, opened in what is now the Ayala Triangle. The first centrally planned community was established in the 1950's, and since the 1970's, Makati has been the undisputed financial and commercial capital, the once worthless swampland becoming prime real property.
Makati has also figured prominently in the political history of the Filipino. The community was one of the cradles of the revolt against Spanish colonial rule, and following the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983, the epicenter of the protest movement against dictatorial rule.
The day after her assumption to the presidency in February 1986, Cory Aquino appointed Jejomar C. Binay as officer-in-charge of Makati, the first local official to be appointed by the revolutionary government. Explaining her choice of the former human rights lawyer and street parliamentarian, Aquino said "It was very important for me to place at the helm of Makati someone who would carry out the ideals of EDSA, someone who would make democracy work, not only in the freedom given to its people but also in the proper handling of government according to democratic traditions. And, to my mind, Jojo was the man".
On January 2, 1995, the Makati became a city by virtue of Republic Act 7854.
