Poblacion, Makati

Aerial view of Hospital Español de Santiago, 1933

Museo ng Makati along J.P. Rizal Avenue

Barangay Poblacion is the first settlement of Makati. In fact, when one would mention San Pedro Makati during the pre-war period, it indicated Barangay Poblacion. Since it was the original community of the town, it became the center of the local government and has remained as such today.

In 1620, the San Pedro Church was built by the Jesuits as the center of the Catholic faith of then San Pedro Macati. The residents corrupted this name to "Sampiro" and used this moniker to refer to both the church and the town. When the Jesuits were expelled from all Spanish territories in the 18th century, the Spanish government confiscated all their properties which included San Pedro Macati. This began the turnover of the land from one owner to another until the Zobel de Ayala-Roxas family began its modern development during the latter part of the 19th century.

Official records show that the first municipal president of Makati was Marcelino Magsaysay, who hails from Poblacion. Most of the succeeding municipal presidents or mayors were likewise bona fide constituents of Poblacion namely: Eusebio Arpilleda, Hermogenes Santos, Urbano Navarro, Jose Magsaysay, Pedro Domingo, Ricardo Arpilleda, Nicanor Garcia, Jose Villena and Maximo Estrella.

The first municipal building, the Presidencia, was built in 1918 in the middle of Poblacion at Plaza Trece de Agosto, now J.P. Rizal Street. It is now occupied today by the Museo ng Makati.[2]

What is now today Kalayaan Avenue was built in the early 20th century as the Meralco streetcar line from Paco to Pasig (formerly the Manila Suburban Railway). The building of the line partly led to a residential and commercial boom in the town proper.

The old and new Makati City Hall

From 1954 up to the late 1980s, Poblacion was served by the James Rockwell Power Plant owned by Meralco, one of many to be built within the capital region to provide electricity to millions of its residents.

In 1961, Mayor Maximo Estrella ordered the construction of a new municipal building in its present site, which was donated by the Ayala Land, Inc. In the early years of the 21st century, Mayor Jejomar Binay instituted the high-rise 22-storey City Hall of Makati, making Poblacion as the center of Makati's government then and now.

In 2006 and 2007, local and foreign urban planning consultants and other public and private sector partners conducted a Cultural Mapping Report of the Heritage of Poblacion, through the grant of the Instituto Cervantes Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation.

Although Poblacion has kept its old-world charm, it has also embraced modernity and economic development with the presence of a number of commercial establishments in the area, specifically along the main thoroughfares of J.P. Rizal, Makati Avenue, P. Burgos and Kalayaan, the Rockwell Center, the A. Venue Mall and Suites and the upcoming development by Century Properties in the old site of the International School called the Century City.[2]

In 2020, the Sangguniang Barangay of Poblacion approved Barangay Resolution No. 2020-689 objecting to the name of Poblacion being shortened to "Pobla" by patrons of the commercial establishments in the area. The resolution cites that the residents of Poblacion "highly considers [sic] the image and values the rich heritage of Poblacion including its name", denouncing the shortened name and "any inappropriate contraction or misuse of its name" as "offensive and derogatory to the community". The resolution was reposted on Facebook in February 2023 by barangay captain Benhur Cruz. The post drew mixed reactions online, with some Filipinos in support of the resolution, while others finding the resolution to be outlandish.[3][4]