Forging the Vision

An excerpt, from the book Fifty Years and Forward, on the rich history of Makati and how it became the financial capital of the Philippines

- Lisa Guerrero Nakpil

Before the first patch of ground was broken, the first pipe laid and the first street paved, there were almost two years of careful research, study and preparation that went toward the making of the Makati of the Ayalas.

Between 1946 to 1947, when the smoke and rubble of Second Word War had barely cleared, Col Joseph R McMicking would bring to bear the principles of American town planning on this project, consulting with experts on topics as diverse as engineering and architecture, sociology and financing, as well as marketing and sales.

This was the foundation on which the Master Plan, and with it, Makati, was formed.

It had a certain symmetry to how Manila’s first stone structures were raised—from the enterprise and effort of two Spanish priests who had arrived together in 1581. They were the first bishop of the Philippines, Fray Domingo de Salazar, and Fr Antonio Sedeño (whose name is now on a street in Salcedo Village), superior of the first Jesuit missionaries to arrive in this country. Fr Sedeño was an engineer given the task of putting up the churches and battlements of Intramuros. It was Bishop Salazar, on the other hand, who made it his mission to find the necessary stone. He explored the Pasig River in a barge, intrepidly sailing into unknown territory, until he finally found adobe in a place that would be called Makati. To this day, more than 440 years later, some of the walls and churches of old Manila still stand made from this strong Makati material— in the same way that Makati, too, still stands strong on a foundation forged from vision and courage.