BF Homes Parañaque

In 1964, Tomas Aguirre, whose family is of the Agencia de Empeños de Aguirre pawnshop fame, founded Banco Filipino with the aid of money from the family business. By around 1966, BF had become the premiere bank in the Philippines. For Aguirre, it was time to venture into the next phase and to consider land development. With that, he put up the BF Homes Incorporated (BFHI) arm to further realize his goal.

Prior to the formation of Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa, Aguirre already envisioned that a suburban community south of Manila would be ideal, as well as conducive for potential residents that wanted to stay far away from the busy streets of Manila, Makati, and Quezon City, yet hoped to stay close to their work and education, minus the large population. His fortunes from the family business were able to help him invest in 765 hectares (1,890 acres) of agricultural land, mostly from the area of Barrio San Dionisio in Parañaque, as well as that from neighboring Las Piñas and Muntinlupa (all three cities were then municipalities part of the province Rizal until 1975, when they became incorporated into Metro Manila), and formed what became known as the southern branch of BF Homes. The Las Piñas portion was labeled as "Las Piñas BF Homes," while the Parañaque and Muntinlupa portions made up what was labelled as "Parañaque BF Homes." (Simultaneously, Aguirre started work on sister subdivisions—BF Almanza, BF Resort, and Pilar Village—which are all located at Las Piñas.) Property started to go up on sale as soon as it opened in 1968; and by December of the following year, the subdivision had its first annual homeowners meeting at the clubhouse located in 37 Pilar Banzon Street.

For majority of the 1970s, Parañaque BF Homes, as well as Las Piñas BF Homes (by then rechristened as BF Homes International), enjoyed its reputation as the preferred place of residence. It was the first gated community of its kind to have its own convenience store, movie theater, bowling alley, as well as a few commercial complexes; all unheard of at that time. It also featured two premiere hotels developed consecutively by Aguirre's son, Anthony, in the Las Piñas portion; the El Grande Hotel and the Tropical Palace Resort.

In 1978, the Parañaque portion of BF Homes was regrouped with neighboring subdivisions by Presidential Decree 1320 of President Ferdinand Marcos on April 3, 1978, as Barangay BF Homes. Meanwhile, BF Homes International, part of Las Piñas, was still registered under the Parañaque branch for most of the early years.

Despite its initial success and adequate security, the quality of the subdivision began to decline at the turn of the late 1970s when informal settlers residing along the nearby Manila Memorial Park – Sucat branch gradually swarmed past its walls. Sometime in 1985, Tomas Aguirre fell out of favor with the Marcos government, and Banco Filipino ceased operations, citing insolvency, causing BFHI to suffer as a result. Consequently, the Aguirre family fled briefly to the United States. On June 30, 1986, the Tropical Palace, a popular venue for the residents, mysteriously burned down. A year after, the El Grande Hotel (almost abandoned for nine years before once again operating, albeit for a few months) was also damaged by fire, though was not as severe. By March 1989, management of BF Homes was then transferred from BFHI to the residents, under the aegis of United BF Homeowners Association Incorporated (UBFHAI);[2] however, despite the turnover, BFHI still retains its shares in the subdivision.

With the residents now in control, clusters of streets in the vicinity were split and fenced from each other, forming their respective associations. This caused the subdivision, which was up until then a large community with streets connecting with one another, to become nothing more than a collective of eighty-two enclaves.