Pateros

1821 Idyllic Painting of Pateros by José Honorato Lozano, showing the duck farms on the river banks that are the namesake of the municipality

Before 1799, Pateros was only a barrio of Pasig until the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines issued a decree making Pateros an independent municipality. The town was then composed of five barangays (villages): Aguho, San Roque, Santa Ana, Santo Rosario (Santo Rosario-Silangan and Santo Rosario-Kanluran), and Mamancat (now part of Fort Bonifacio).

1896 Revolution Memorial Monument

During the Philippine–American War in March 1899, the first contingent of American Volunteers from Washington arrived in the town of Pateros. The American soldiers rallied and eventually won the battles to take control and establish a temporary camp.

Throughout this period, American soldiers were able to experience the culture and livelihood of the citizens of Pateros. Having roast duck for meals during wartime and sending postcards of Pateros back to the United States of America. In 1900, a member of the American contingent, Lieutenant Charles Nosler, renamed the city of Ive's Landing in Washington State, USA, after the town of Pateros in the Philippines. Pateros in Washington State officially became an American city on May 1, 1913.[7]

On March 29, 1900, Pateros, then a part of the province of Manila, became one of the towns in the newly created province of Rizal, by virtue of General Order No. 40, Act No. 137 of the Philippine Commission, which was promulgated on June 11, 1901. Then on October 12, 1903, Act No. 942 united Pateros with Taguig and Muntinlupa into one municipality under Pateros.[8] The municipality was renamed Taguig and Muntinlupa was separated from it on March 22, 1905, through Act No. 1308.[9]

Executive Order No. 20 dated February 29, 1908, partitioned Pateros from Taguig, and the town regained independent status as a municipality on January 1, 1909, by Executive Order No. 36.

On November 7, 1975, Pateros became a part of the new Metropolitan Manila Area through Presidential Decree No. 824[10]

On July 23, 2013, Mayor Jaime C. Medina visited the city of Pateros, Washington State, United States to sign the Sister City Memorandum of Understanding between the Municipality of Pateros, Metro Manila and Pateros City of Okanogan County, Washington State, USA. According to Mayor Gail Howe, the two cities have not applied through Sister Cities International but the goals of promoting the culture and exchanges have turned the sisterhood into reality.[11][12]

The Inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte to presidency that took place on June 30, 2016, paved way to another attempt of the conversion of the town into a city and constituting into two congressional districts through the collaborative efforts of the municipal government of Pateros spearheaded by Mayor Miguel Ponce III and the most especially by the passage of a house bill sponsored by Pateros-Taguig Representative Arnel Cerafica.[13]

Pateros is politically subdivided into 10 barangays:[15]

Map showing the barangays of Pateros

The municipal government of Pateros claims that its original land area was not its present land area of 2.10 km² (0.81 sq mi) but 1,040 hectares (10.4 km²) including Fort Bonifacio, particularly the Embo barangays Comembo, Pembo, East Rembo, West Rembo, Cembo, South Cembo and Pitogo which are now part of the city of Makati and Bonifacio Global City (known as Post Proper Northside and Post Proper Southside by Makati, and Mamancat, Masilang,[17] San Nicolas,[18] and Malapadnabato,[19] former parts of Pateros) which was made part of Taguig, based on documents and official maps obtained by former Pateros Councilor Dominador Rosales from 30 libraries and offices including USA Library of Congress and USA Archives. One of those maps was the 1968 Land Classification Map of the Bureau of Land.[20]

Pateros' decrease in territory was accounted to a cadastral mapping in Metro Manila conducted in 1978. Pateros Mayor Nestor Ponce challenged the map through an objection letter dated June 23, 1978.[21] But in January 1986, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 2475 which stated that Fort Bonifacio is situated in Makati and it is open for disposition.[22] Because of that, a boundary dispute arose which moved Pateros to request a dialogue about that with then Municipal Council of Makati in 1990. Pateros also filed a complaint against Makati at the Makati Regional Trial Court in 1996 but the trial court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. The case was brought to the Court of Appeals in 2003 but the case was also denied. The same case was also elevated to the Supreme Court in 2009 but it was denied again.[20][23]

Almost 2 decades later, the Supreme Court on June 16, 2009, per Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura denied Pateros' petition against Makati but ruled out that the boundary dispute should be settled amicably by their respective legislative bodies based on Section 118(d) of the Local Government Code.[24] Pursuant to the decision, Pateros invited Makati to a council-to-council dialogue. This happened on October 8, 2009. Four meetings were held and at the fourth dialogue on November 23, 2009, a joint resolution was made stating that Makati is requesting a tripartite conference between Pateros, Taguig and Makati.[25]

Pateros Municipal Seal

• Pateros (Mallard) Duck, symbolizes the duck-raising industry where town was known.
• Ten duck eggs represents the barangay which Pateros was politically subdivided; it also signifies the Balut industry of the town.

Secondary Institutions

• Mayor Simplicio Manalo National High School
• Maria Concepcion Cruz High School
• Pateros National High School

• Pateros Technological College

• APEC Schools - Pateros (Santo Rosario-Silangan)
• Pateros Catholic School
• Saint Genevieve School of Pateros
• Maranatha Christian Academy
• SEP Christian School Inc.
• Huckleberry Montessori School