Given how modern and progressive Makati has become, it is easy to overlook how much it has evolved from being a sleepy town far from the old centers of commerce that were Intramuros and downtown Manila. Nowhere in Makati was this evolution more apparent and drastic than in Makati’s old town proper itself, the Makati Poblacion, (or “Pobla” as others call it) which itself has undergone an enormous transformation over time as well.
The Birthplace of Makati
When Miguel Lopez de Legazpi landed in Manila in 1571, he and his men decided to explore the settlements along the Pasig River beyond the now-conquered Kingdom of Maynila of Rajah Sulayman in what is now Intramuros. One of the riverside settlements they came across was the settlement of what is now Makati Poblacion. Legend has it that when Legazpi (or maybe one of his men) tried to ask the locals about the name of the settlement, the locals thought they were asked about the condition of the river so they replied “Makati na! Kumakati na!” which meant in English, :It’s low tide! The tide is ebbing!” Thus, that’s how Makati got its name.
It wasn’t until 1578 when the Spaniards formally administered the area, first as part of Santa Ana de Sapa, then becoming a town of its own right in 1670 with the official name of San Pedro de Macati. It must be noted thought that Makati’s path to independence already began 50 years prior with the completion of what is now the St. Peter and Paul Church, which also marked the establishment of a separate parish for the community.
From the Spanish colonial period up until the early postwar years, Makati’s population and center of commerce was concentrated within and around the Poblacion (town center) of Makati. The turn of the 20th century would bring further development in the area with the construction of a tranvia line that ran from Pedro Gil/Herran Street all the way to the Pasig Poblacion, running along what is now Kalayaan Avenue. The period also marked a significant milestone with the construction of a permanent town hall or presidencia in 1918.
The Poblacion in the Time of the BUSINESS DISTRICT
The development of the Makati Central Business District and the rise of upper and middle class exclusive villages like Forbes Park, Dasmariñas, Urdaneta, and Bel-Air would upend Makati’s traditional demographics upside down. From being a quiet suburban town, it would radically transform to become the business district not only of Manila but of the country as well.
When such changes occur, normally this would spell the doom of the old town center, as evidenced by the decline of Escolta by Makati CBD’s ascent. And for a time, Makati Poblacion seemed to be headed to that same fate. But it managed to survive and even thrive on its own by adapting a unique character, one that is catered to a more fun, hip crowd that comes alive in the afterhours of the neighboring business district.
This “rebrand” of the neighborhood has both its benefits and drawbacks, For one, it gave Makati a a more diverse environment beyond the formal, business-like image of the Makati CBD. But it also provided a particularly less wholesome reputation that some would opt to avoid, though that reputation is not as bad as it was years prior.
Preserving the Past
In the midst of all these changes of an old town quarter like the Poblacion of Makati, there is always this danger of its past gradually being erased. Sadly, this is an all too common situation in many places that have undergone massive urbanization and gentrification. Fortunately, Makati has managed to preserve some of the historic parts of its Poblacion as a means to honor the city’s humble beginnings.
For one, the old Makati presidencia was preserved even after the administrative center was moved to a much larger space. It was eventually converted into a museum, the Museo ng Makati which showcases the city’s past through its admittedly meager collection.
Across the museum is a park which has busts of those who have served as mayor of Makati all the way up to Jejomar Binay.
Interestingly, the park used to be the site of the old Casa Hacienda, the administrative building of the Hacienda de San Pedro Macati, which managed much of Makati which was then an area of vast farmlands. The hacienda was under the control of the Jesuits until it was sold in 1851 to Jose Bonifacio Roxas of the Roxas-Ayala family who managed Casa Roxas, a company with interests in farming, manufacturing, mining and trading. Casa Roxas would eventually evolve into the conglomerate we know today as the Ayala Corporation now being managed by the same Roxas-Ayala family, added with the Zobel bloodline.
There are also a few surviving old houses in the area, with some remaining in ruins while others have been adaptively reused and serve as living monuments of old Makati alongside the former presidencia. These surviving structures serve as monuments to the Makati of the old, reminding present and future generations of what this modern city was like in the past.
Old and New in Coexistence
But going back to how Makati Poblacion managed to survive and thrive in the midst of the dominance of the CBD, on second thought it would be disingenuous to attribute it alone to the emergence of the youthful and hip Poblacion. Rather it is how it has managed to coexist with the old elements of the Poblacion and somehow make it work.
Because normally, neighborhoods had to choose between languishing with their old glory or try to be something new entirely at the cost of getting rid of its old character. But Makati Poblacion decided it did not have to make that choice. It decided to do both and managed to not only remain relevant but also stand on its own with a unique character that a few old poblacions managed to achieve. That unique appeal of the Makati Poblacion is something that has pretty much guaranteed its longterm development.
Acknowledgements as well to Wikipedia, Tatler Asia, and Casa Hacienda Makati