Manila, Feb. 15 -- This is the story of how Quezon City, the country's former national capital from 1948 to 1976, nearly lost its territorial jurisdiction over the vast La Mesa Dam, Reservoir, Watershed Reservation and Nature Reserve in the northernmost portion of Metropolitan Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) to the neighboring town of Rodriguez, Rizal in the last half of the 1990s.

Yes, the former Rizal town of Montalban, renamed after the late former Senate President Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Sr. in 1982, almost became the fortunate owner of the 27-square kilometer or 2,659-hectare watershed reservation, the only one remaining in the NCR today, without actually asking for it.

It almost happened as an offshoot of the final d...