Fort Bonifacio is one of the 28 barangays of Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. The financial district of Bonifacio Global City, the Fort Bonifacio military camp and the Manila American Cemetery are under the jurisdiction of the barangay.
History
Fort McKinley and Fort Bonifacio
During the American colonial period, the US government acquired a property within what was then disputed area between Makati, Taguig and Pateros for military purposes. This area (TCT dated 1902) was turned into a camp then known as Fort William McKinley after the 25th US president, William McKinley. After the Philippines gained its political independence from the United States on July 4, 1946, the US bestowed to the Republic of the Philippines all rights of possession, jurisdiction, supervision and control over the Philippine territory except the use of their military bases. On May 14, 1949, Fort McKinley was turned over to the Philippine government by virtue of US Embassy Note No. 0570.
Under the AFP leadership of Gen. Alfonso Arellano, Fort McKinley was made the permanent headquarters of the Philippine Army in 1957 and was subsequently renamed Fort Bonifacio, after the Father of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Andres Bonifacio, whose father, Santiago Bonifacio, was a native of Taguig, which was then a town part of the Province of Tondo (later Manila).
During the Marcos dictatorship
When Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972, Fort Bonifacio became the host of three detention centers full of political prisoners - the Ipil Reception Center (sometimes called the Ipil Detention Center), a higher security facility called the Youth Rehabilitation Center (YRC), and the Maximum Security Unit where Senators Jose W. Diokno and Benigno Aquino Jr. were detained. Ipil was the largest prison facility for political prisoners during martial law. Among the prisoners held there were some of the country's leading academics, creative writers, journalists, and historians including Butch Dalisay, Ricky Lee, Bienvenido Lumbera, Jo Ann Maglipon, Ninotchka Rosca, Zeus Salazar, and William Henry Scott. After Fort Bonifacio was privatized, the area in which Ipil was located became the area near the present-day sites of S&R Membership Shopping BGC and MC Home Depot, near 32nd Street and 8th Avenue in Bonifacio Global City, while the YRC became a government facility just outside of Barangay Fort Bonifacio.
Creation of Bonifacio Global City
On March 19, 1992, President Corazon C. Aquino signed the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992 (RA 7227) into law, creating the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA, tasked with converting Military Bases into "integrated developments, dynamic business centers and vibrant communities."
On February 7, 1995, the BCDA and a consortium led by Metro Pacific Investments Corporation formed a joint venture called the Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation (FBDC) for the purpose of developing 150 hectares of former Fort Bonifacio land. The private group bought a 55% stake in the FBDC for 30.4 billion pesos, while BCDA held on to the remaining 45% stake. The FBDC's landmark project was conceived as Bonifacio Global City, a real estate development area meant to accommodate 250,000 residents and 500,000 daytime workers and visitors. The project was hampered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, but moved forward when Ayala Land, Inc. and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group purchased Metro Pacific's controlling stake in FBDC in 2003.