THE Court of Appeals (CA) has granted a plea filed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in connection with thelower court’s injunction order preventing the firm, among others, from placing roadblocks in its property located along McKinley Parkway Drive in Taguig City (Metro Manila). In its 14-page decision dated January 31, 2017 that was released to the media only recently, the CA’s 16th Division granted BCDA’s petition for certiorari as it ruled that it “found to need to discuss the other assigned errors in the absence of a right in esse of respondent City of Taguig.” The case stemmed from a petition filed by the city alleging that McKinley, which is owned by BCDA, is a major thoroughfare located in Bonifacio Global City, Barangay Fort Bonifacio. The petition claimed that BCDA and BESC (Bonifacio Estate Service Corp.) had placed mounds of earth on an unfinished portion and concrete barriers in other parts, making the property inaccessible from 11th Street, among others. The Regional Trial Court judge who ruled on the case is former judge and now Judicial and Bar Council member Toribio Ilao Jr. He granted the city’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction as he junked BCDA and BESC’s motion for reconsideration. This prompted the two agencies to seek redress with the appellate court. The BCDA claimed that the City of Taguig exercises jurisdiction over McKinley although the property is no longer part of the city by virtue of the CA’s decision holding that the area is a part of Makati City. In its decision, the appellate tribunal held that the City of Taguig “failed to show that it has clear and unmistakable right to be protected and the acts against which the writ is to be directed is violative of said right.” “Respondent City of Taguig’s supposed right in esse, which it seeks to protect, is not at all existent. Hence, no irreparable damage or injury can be engendered against it,” the CA said. The ruling was penned by Associate Justice Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob and concurred in by Associate Justices Ricardo Rosario and Edwin Sorongon.