Baclaran Mosque

[1][2] The mosque, along with nearby shopping stalls, was demolished by local authorities in 2013, due to tenants' lack of legal ownership of the site, and an ordinance to widen city streets and prevent pickpocketing and violence in the area.

[4] Baclaran Mosque sat on reclaimed land on Roxas Boulevard just south of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, overlooking Manila Bay.

[5] The mosque, which was topped by an onion dome, had a main room that contained four, 25-foot tall columns; the walls still showing exposed iron rebar.

[6] The Baclaran Mosque is owned by the Baclaran-Parañaque City Islamic Center, Inc., whose legal representatives are Nasser Ramos, Jalil Moluk, and Sultan Sohayle Cosain Tanandato.

[9] In March 2007, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ordered residents around the mosque to vacate their land, stating that the structures they lived in were illegal and would be torn down in May.

[20] After the incident, the Philippine Reclamation Authority, and Pasay Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad, continued to state that they would pursue plans to relocate the mosque.

[21] The individual in question, Dr. Bernardo de León, asserted that the lot at the corner of Kabihasnan Street and Coastal Road was actually in Barangay San Dionisio, and belonged to his family after he had inherited it in 1984.

The lot had been an object of a dispute as far back as 1992, when Public Estate Authority security guards entered the compound and destroyed improvements made by De León and his family.

[22] On 24 September 2013, the mosque was demolished by the city government due to the lack of legal land ownership held by a shopping mall, as well as an effort to reduce known pickpocketing and violence in the nearby area.