Bonifacio Global City – The Singapore of Manila, or the Manhattan of Asia?

Bonifacio Global City (BGC) is a planned central business district in the City of Taguig (one of the cities in Metropolitan Manila). I’ve seen it described as the Manhattan of Asia and the Singapore of Manila. Both of these descriptions sound hyperbolic, so I had to see for myself.

I visited Manila in April 2026, and this is my report on Bonifacio Global City.

Getting to BGC

BGC is not connected to the metro system (yet), so I got the train to the closest station and walked.

I got the train to Buendia Station (MRT-3) and walked along the narrow sidewalk on the main road.

Google Maps estimated the walk to be about 30 minutes, which is too far for the station to be a useful travel option to BGC.

The walk would have been shorter if it weren’t for a private estate and a golf course blocking the way.

Manila is littered with private estates that hinder coherent urban planning. I have previously written that gated communities should not be located in inner-city areas.

The roads are not in any logical order, but I looked at the Google Map and thought I had memorised the route. I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in a maze of side streets that surround BGC.

This turned out to be an instructive walk as I saw how the workers who serve BGC live. Among the cinderblock houses are a chain of boarding houses that rent cheap beds by the month.

I could see the skyline of BGC, but I had to refer back to Google Maps to find my way there.

I found the alley that connects to the BGC area, and it was immediately apparent that this area is a separately managed entity. The roads are wide and lined with trees, and the area features a well-defined street grid.

The land at BGC was part of Fort Bonifacio, which was one of the military bases in Manila that was converted for development. The land was privatised in 1994, and by 2004, there were fewer than 10 high-rises here.

I met a friend who lives in Manila part-time for a coffee in BGC. He visited BGC 15 years ago and said there was not much here. Now there are only a few blocks left that have not been developed.

The straight roads with numbered streets and avenues do evoke the Manhattan grid.

There is even a 5th Avenue, though it is nowhere near as grand as Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

I would say that BGC is more Singaporean in vibe than Manhattan. In fact, out of all the places I have been to that aspire to be The Next Singapore in Southeast Asia, BGC felt the most like Singapore.

Tree-lined streets with wide sidewalks should be the bare minimum for any new urban development.

In the centre of the main street grid is Bonifacio High Street. This is a public park that is flanked by shops and restaurants on either side.

I considered staying here so I could have a longer look around, but there are no budget hotels here, and I couldn’t be bothered dealing with an Airbnb apartment for a one-night stay.

I ended up staying in Malate, which is the old area by the Bay of Manila. I mentioned in my 2022 Manila trip report that Malate should be like the Miami Beach of Manila. Returning to Malate in 2026, it was disappointing to see how run-down it still is, especially after visiting BGC.

Another comparison I was making was with the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in Ho Chi Minh City. BGC and Thu Thiem have a similar development timeline, yet BGC is almost complete, while Thu Thiem has been bogged down in red tape and scandals.

BGC was fascinating to visit to see how quickly a new urban area can develop. My main issue with it is that it is a private development and not integrated into the city proper. It feels like a business park, and street vendors are not allowed to operate here.

Walking across BGC, you can see where BGC ends and “Normal Manila” resumes.

BGC transport

BGC is not connected to the urban rail transit system of Manila, but it will have two stations on the Metro Manila Subway (MRT-9). This map from Wikimedia shows the line in relation to the current system and other lines under construction.

[Map by Itsquietuptown via Wikimedia.]

MRT-9 will have a branch line to NAIA Terminal 3, so it will only be three stops from BGC to the airport. The current construction only goes to Terminal 3, while the Wiki map shows the proposed extension to Terminal 1 and 2 and extension to an extended LRT Line 1.

The BGC subway station will be next to the Market! Market! mall. Work reportedly began on the BGC station in February 2026, though there was no sign of construction when I was there in April. The mall is going to be completely redeveloped when the lease expires at the end of 2027, so it would make sense to build the station along with the redevelopment. The line is expected to open in 2032.

There is a transit centre next to Market! Market! mall. The jeepneys that converge here look out of place in this modern corner of Manila, so maybe they will be phased out before the subway line opens.

Kalayaan Avenue Station on the Metro Manila Subway will be at 11th Avenue next to the JPMorgan Chase Center.

Another transport proposal is the Makati-Taguig Skytrain, which is a privately proposed 1.87 km people-mover/monorail that would connect BGC to Guadalupe Station on Line MRT-3 in Makati.

BGC and Makati are neighbours, but it is hard to travel between these two economic powerhouses of Manila. The Skytrain would connect to the proposed Makati Intra-city Subway, which would operate within Makati City. What Manila needs is a mass transit line that passes through Makati and BGC and connects to other points in Manila. Instead, Manila has these privately proposed lines that are not integrated into a planned citywide network.

Part of the problem is that the cities of Manila operate as cities unto themselves, instead of working towards benefitting greater Manila. Perhaps Manila should have a governor who oversees all of the cities, like how Bangkok has a governor, and the cities of Manila should be more like districts. Anyway, that is a topic beyond the scope of this site.

I have a list of every urban rail line planned for Metro Manila here: Future Manila mass transit system.