-
[G.R. No. 127198. May 16, 2005]
LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. HON. ELI G. C.
NATIVIDAD,
Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 48, San
Fernando, Pampanga,
and JOSE R. CAGUIAT represented by Attorneys-in-fact JOSE T.
BARTOLOME
and VICTORIO MANGALINDAN, respondents.
D E C I S I O N
TINGA, J.:
This is a Petition for Review[1]
dated December 6, 1996 assailing the Decision[2]
of the
Regional Trial Court[3]
dated July 5, 1996 which ordered the Department of Agrarian
Reform
(DAR) and petitioner Land Bank of the Philippines (Land Bank) to
pay private respondents the
amount of P30.00 per square meter as just compensation for the
States acquisition of private respondents properties under the land
reform program.
The facts follow.
On May 14, 1993, private respondents filed a petition before the
trial court for the
determination of just compensation for their agricultural lands
situated in Arayat, Pampanga,
which were acquired by the government pursuant to Presidential
Decree No. 27 (PD 27). The
petition named as respondents the DAR and Land Bank. With leave
of court, the petition was
amended to implead as co-respondents the registered tenants of
the land.
After trial, the court rendered the assailed Decision the
dispositive portion of which reads:
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered in favor of petitioners
and against respondents,
ordering respondents, particularly, respondents Department of
Agrarian Reform and the Land
Bank of the Philippines, to pay these lands owned by petitioners
and which are the subject of
acquisition by the State under its land reform program, the
amount of THIRTY PESOS (P30.00)
per square meter, as the just compensation due for payment for
same lands of petitioners located
at San Vicente (or Camba), Arayat, Pampanga.
Respondent Department of Agrarian Reform is also ordered to pay
petitioners the amount of
FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00) as Attorneys Fee, and to pay
the cost of suit.
SO ORDERED.[4]
DAR and Land Bank filed separate motions for reconsideration
which were denied by the
trial court in its Order[5]
dated July 30, 1996 for being pro forma as the same did not
contain a
notice of hearing. Thus, the prescriptive period for filing an
appeal was not tolled. Land Bank
consequently failed to file a timely appeal and the assailed
Decision became final and executory.
-
Land Bank then filed a Petition for Relief from Order Dated 30
July 1996,[6]
citing
excusable negligence as its ground for relief. Attached to the
petition for relief were two
affidavits of merit claiming that the failure to include in the
motion for reconsideration a notice
of hearing was due to accident and/or mistake.[7]
The affidavit of Land Banks counsel of record notably states
that he simply scanned and signed the Motion for Reconsideration
for Agrarian Case No. 2005, Regional Trial Court of Pampanga,
Branch 48, not knowing, or unmindful that it
had no notice of hearing[8] due to his heavy workload.
The trial court, in its Order[9]
of November 18, 1996, denied the petition for relief because
Land Bank lost a remedy in law due to its own negligence.
In the instant petition for review, Land Bank argues that the
failure of its counsel to include
a notice of hearing due to pressure of work constitutes
excusable negligence and does not make
the motion for reconsideration pro forma considering its
allegedly meritorious defenses. Hence,
the denial of its petition for relief from judgment was
erroneous.
According to Land Bank, private respondents should have sought
the reconsideration of the
DARs valuation of their properties. Private respondents thus
failed to exhaust administrative remedies when they filed a
petition for the determination of just compensation directly with
the
trial court. Land Bank also insists that the trial court erred
in declaring that PD 27 and Executive
Order No. 228 (EO 228) are mere guidelines in the determination
of just compensation, and in
relying on private respondents evidence of the valuation of the
properties at the time of possession in 1993 and not on Land Banks
evidence of the value thereof as of the time of acquisition in
1972.
Private respondents filed a Comment[10]
dated February 22, 1997, averring that Land Banks failure to
include a notice of hearing in its motion for reconsideration due
merely to counsels heavy workload, which resulted in the motion
being declared pro forma, does not constitute
excusable negligence, especially in light of the admission of
Land Banks counsel that he has been a lawyer since 1973 and has
mastered the intricate art and technique of pleading.
Land Bank filed a Reply[11]
dated March 12, 1997 insisting that equity considerations
demand that it be heard on substantive issues raised in its
motion for reconsideration.
The Court gave due course to the petition and required the
parties to submit their respective
memoranda.[12]
Both parties complied.[13]
The petition is unmeritorious.
At issue is whether counsels failure to include a notice of
hearing constitutes excusable negligence entitling Land Bank to a
relief from judgment.
Section 1, Rule 38 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure
provides:
Sec. 1. Petition for relief from judgment, order, or other
proceedings.When a judgment or final order is entered, or any other
proceeding is thereafter taken against a party in any court
through fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence, he
may file a petition in such court
and in the same case praying that the judgment, order or
proceeding be set aside.
As can clearly be gleaned from the foregoing provision, the
remedy of relief from judgment
can only be resorted to on grounds of fraud, accident, mistake
or excusable
-
negligence. Negligence to be excusable must be one which
ordinary diligence and prudence
could not have guarded against.[14]
Measured against this standard, the reason profferred by Land
Banks counsel, i.e., that his heavy workload prevented him from
ensuring that the motion for reconsideration included a
notice of hearing, was by no means excusable.
Indeed, counsels admission that he simply scanned and signed the
Motion for Reconsideration for Agrarian Case No. 2005, Regional
Trial Court of Pampanga, Branch 48, not
knowing, or unmindful that it had no notice of hearing speaks
volumes of his arrant negligence, and cannot in any manner be
deemed to constitute excusable negligence.
The failure to attach a notice of hearing would have been less
odious if committed by a
greenhorn but not by a lawyer who claims to have mastered the
intricate art and technique of pleading.[15]
Indeed, a motion that does not contain the requisite notice of
hearing is nothing but a mere
scrap of paper. The clerk of court does not even have the duty
to accept it, much less to bring it
to the attention of the presiding judge.[16]
The trial court therefore correctly considered the
motion for reconsideration pro forma. Thus, it cannot be faulted
for denying Land Banks motion for reconsideration and petition for
relief from judgment.
It should be emphasized at this point that procedural rules are
designed to facilitate the
adjudication of cases. Courts and litigants alike are enjoined
to abide strictly by the rules. While
in certain instances, we allow a relaxation in the application
of the rules, we never intend to forge
a weapon for erring litigants to violate the rules with
impunity. The liberal interpretation and
application of rules apply only in proper cases of demonstrable
merit and under justifiable causes
and circumstances. While it is true that litigation is not a
game of technicalities, it is equally true
that every case must be prosecuted in accordance with the
prescribed procedure to ensure an
orderly and speedy administration of justice. Party litigants
and their counsel are well advised to
abide by, rather than flaunt, procedural rules for these rules
illumine the path of the law and
rationalize the pursuit of justice.[17]
Aside from ruling on this procedural issue, the Court shall also
resolve the other issues
presented by Land Bank, specifically as regards private
respondents alleged failure to exhaust administrative remedies and
the question of just compensation.
Land Bank avers that private respondents should have sought the
reconsideration of the
DARs valuation instead of filing a petition to fix just
compensation with the trial court.
The records reveal that Land Banks contention is not entirely
true. In fact, private respondents did write a letter
[18] to the DAR Secretary objecting to the land valuation
summary
submitted by the Municipal Agrarian Reform Office and requesting
a conference for the purpose
of fixing just compensation. The letter, however, was left
unanswered prompting private
respondents to file a petition directly with the trial
court.
At any rate, in Philippine Veterans Bank v. Court of
Appeals,[19]
we declared that there is
nothing contradictory between the DARs primary jurisdiction to
determine and adjudicate agrarian reform matters and exclusive
original jurisdiction over all matters involving the
implementation of agrarian reform, which includes the
determination of questions of just
compensation, and the original and exclusive jurisdiction of
regional trial courts over all petitions
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for the determination of just compensation. The first refers to
administrative proceedings, while
the second refers to judicial proceedings.
In accordance with settled principles of administrative law,
primary jurisdiction is vested in
the DAR to determine in a preliminary manner the just
compensation for the lands taken under
the agrarian reform program, but such determination is subject
to challenge before the courts.
The resolution of just compensation cases for the taking of
lands under agrarian reform is, after
all, essentially a judicial function.[20]
Thus, the trial did not err in taking cognizance of the case as
the determination of just
compensation is a function addressed to the courts of
justice.
Land Banks contention that the property was acquired for
purposes of agrarian reform on October 21, 1972, the time of the
effectivity of PD 27, ergo just compensation should be based
on the value of the property as of that time and not at the time
of possession in 1993, is likewise
erroneous. In Office of the President, Malacaang, Manila v.
Court of Appeals,[21]
we ruled that
the seizure of the landholding did not take place on the date of
effectivity of PD 27 but would
take effect on the payment of just compensation.
Under the factual circumstances of this case, the agrarian
reform process is still incomplete
as the just compensation to be paid private respondents has yet
to be settled. Considering the
passage of Republic Act No. 6657 (RA 6657)[22]
before the completion of this process, the just
compensation should be determined and the process concluded
under the said law. Indeed, RA
6657 is the applicable law, with PD 27 and EO 228 having only
suppletory effect, conformably
with our ruling in Paris v. Alfeche.[23]
Section 17 of RA 6657 which is particularly relevant, providing
as it does the guideposts for
the determination of just compensation, reads as follows:
Sec. 17. Determination of Just Compensation.In determining just
compensation, the cost of acquisition of the land, the current
value of like properties, its nature, actual use and income,
the
sworn valuation by the owner, the tax declarations, and the
assessment made by government
assessors shall be considered. The social and economic benefits
contributed by the farmers and
the farm-workers and by the Government to the property as well
as the non-payment of taxes or
loans secured from any government financing institution on the
said land shall be considered as
additional factors to determine its valuation.
It would certainly be inequitable to determine just compensation
based on the guideline
provided by PD 27 and EO 228 considering the DARs failure to
determine the just compensation for a considerable length of time.
That just compensation should be determined in
accordance with RA 6657, and not PD 27 or EO 228, is especially
imperative considering that
just compensation should be the full and fair equivalent of the
property taken from its owner by
the expropriator, the equivalent being real, substantial, full
and ample.[24]
In this case, the trial court arrived at the just compensation
due private respondents for their
property, taking into account its nature as irrigated land,
location along the highway, market
value, assessors value and the volume and value of its produce.
This Court is convinced that the trial court correctly determined
the amount of just compensation due private respondents in
accordance with, and guided by, RA 6657 and existing
jurisprudence.
-
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. Costs against petitioner.
SO ORDERED.
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FIRST DIVISION
JOSEFINA S. LUBRICA, in her G.R. No. 170220
capacity as Assignee of FEDERICO
C. SUNTAY, NENITA SUNTAY
TAEDO and EMILIO A.M.
SUNTAY III, Petitioners, Present:
Panganiban, C.J. (Chairperson),
- versus - Ynares-Santiago,
Austria-Martinez,
Callejo, Sr., and
Chico-Nazario, JJ.
LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent. Promulgated:
November 20, 2006
x
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x
DECISION
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:
This Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the
Rules of Court assails the
October 27, 2005 Amended Decision[1]
of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 77530,
which vacated its May 26, 2004 Decision affirming (a) the Order
of the Regional Trial Court of
San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, Branch 46, acting as Special
Agrarian Court, in Agrarian Case
Nos. R-1339 and R-1340, dated March 31, 2003 directing
respondent Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP) to deposit the provisional compensation as
determined by the Provincial
Agrarian Reform Adjudicator (PARAD); (b) the May 26, 2003
Resolution denying LBPs
motion for reconsideration; and (c) the May 27, 2003 Order
requiring Teresita V. Tengco, LBPs
Land Compensation Department Manager, to comply with the March
31, 2003 Order.
The facts of the
case are as follows:
Petitioner Josefina S. Lubrica is the assignee[2]
of Federico C. Suntay over certain parcels
of agricultural land located at Sta. Lucia, Sablayan, Occidental
Mindoro, with an area of
-
3,682.0285 hectares covered by Transfer Certificate of Title
(TCT) No. T-31 (T-1326)[3]
of the
Registry of Deeds of Occidental Mindoro. In 1972, a portion of
the said property with an area of
311.7682 hectares, was placed under the land reform program
pursuant to Presidential Decree
No. 27 (1972)[4]
and Executive Order No. 228 (1987).[5]
The land was thereafter subdivided and
distributed to farmer beneficiaries. The Department of Agrarian
Reform (DAR) and the LBP
fixed the value of the land at P5,056,833.54 which amount was
deposited in cash and bonds in
favor of Lubrica.
On the other hand, petitioners Nenita Suntay-Taedo and Emilio
A.M. Suntay III inherited
from Federico Suntay a parcel of agricultural land located at
Balansay, Mamburao, Occidental
Mindoro covered by TCT No. T-128[6]
of the Register of Deeds of Occidental Mindoro,
consisting of two lots, namely, Lot 1 with an area of 45.0760
hectares and Lot 2 containing an
area of 165.1571 hectares or a total of 210.2331 hectares. Lot 2
was placed under the coverage
of P.D. No. 27 but only 128.7161 hectares was considered by LBP
and valued the same at
P1,512,575.05.
Petitioners rejected the valuation of their properties, hence
the Office of the Provincial
Agrarian Reform Adjudicator (PARAD) conducted summary
administrative proceedings for
determination of just compensation. On January 29, 2003, the
PARAD fixed the preliminary just
compensation at P51,800,286.43 for the 311.7682 hectares (TCT
No. T-31) and P21,608,215.28
for the 128.7161 hectares (TCT No. T-128).[7]
Not satisfied with the valuation, LBP filed on February 17,
2003, two separate
petitions[8]
for judicial determination of just compensation before the
Regional Trial Court of San
Jose, Occidental Mindoro, acting as a Special Agrarian Court,
docketed as Agrarian Case No. R-
1339 for TCT No. T-31 and Agrarian Case No. R-1340 for TCT No.
T-128, and raffled to
Branch 46 thereof.
Petitioners filed separate Motions to Deposit the Preliminary
Valuation Under Section
16(e) of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 6657 (1988)[9]
and Ad Cautelam Answer praying among others
that LBP deposit the preliminary compensation determined by the
PARAD.
On March 31, 2003, the trial court issued an Order[10]
granting petitioners motion, the
dispositive portion of which reads:
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WHEREFORE, Ms. Teresita V. Tengco, of the Land Compensation
Department I (LCD I), Land Bank of the Philippines, is hereby
ordered pursuant
to Section 16 (e) of RA 6657 in relation to Section 2,
Administrative Order No. 8,
Series of 1991, to deposit the provisional compensation as
determined by the
PARAD in cash and bonds, as follows:
1. In Agrarian Case No. R-1339, the amount of P 51,800,286.43,
minus the
amount received by the Landowner;
2. In Agrarian Case No. R-1340, the amount of P 21,608,215.28,
less the
amount of P 1,512,575.16, the amount already deposited.
Such deposit must be made with the Land Bank of
the Philippines, Manila within five (5) days from receipt of a
copy of this order
and to notify this court of her compliance within such
period.
Let this order be served by the Sheriff of this Court at the
expense of the
movants.
SO ORDERED.[11]
LBPs motion for reconsideration was denied in a Resolution[12]
dated May 26,
2003. The following day, May 27, 2003, the trial court issued an
Order[13]
directing Ms. Teresita
V. Tengco, LBPs Land Compensation Department Manager, to deposit
the amounts.
Thus, on June 17, 2003, LBP filed with the Court of Appeals a
Petition for Certiorari and
Prohibition under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court with application
for the issuance of a Temporary
Restraining Order and Writ of Preliminary Injunction docketed as
CA-G.R. SP No. 77530.[14]
On June 27, 2003, the appellate court issued a 60-day temporary
restraining order[15]
and
on October 6, 2003, a writ of preliminary injunction.[16]
On May 26, 2004, the Court of Appeals rendered a
Decision[17]
in favor of the petitioners,
the dispositive portion of which reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, there being no grave abuse
of
discretion, the instant Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition
is DENIED.
Accordingly, the Order dated March 31, 2003, Resolution datedMay
26, 2003,
and Order dated May 27, 2003 are hereby AFFIRMED. The
preliminary
injunction We previously issued is hereby LIFTED and
DISSOLVED.
SO ORDERED.[18]
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The Court of Appeals held that the trial court correctly ordered
LBP to deposit the
amounts provisionally determined by the PARAD as there is no law
which prohibits LBP to
make a deposit pending the fixing of the final amount of just
compensation. It also noted that
there is no reason for LBP to further delay the deposit
considering that the DAR already took
possession of the properties and distributed the same to
farmer-beneficiaries as early as 1972.
LBP moved for reconsideration which was granted. On October 27,
2005, the appellate
court rendered the assailed Amended Decision,[19]
the dispositive portion of which reads:
Wherefore, in view of the prescription of a different formula in
the case of
Gabatin which We hold as cogent and compelling justification
necessitating Us to
effect the reversal of Our judgment herein sought to be
reconsidered, the instant
Motion for Reconsideration is GRANTED, and Our May 26, 2004
Decision is
hereby VACATED and ABANDONED with the end in view of giving way
to and
acting in harmony and in congruence with the tenor of the ruling
in the case of
Gabatin. Accordingly, the assailed rulings of the Special
Agrarian Court is (sic)
commanded to compute and fix the just compensation for the
expropriated
agricultural lands strictly in accordance with the mode of
computation prescribed
(sic) Our May 26, 2004 judgment in the case of Gabatin.
SO ORDERED.[20]
In the Amended Decision, the Court of Appeals held that the
immediate deposit of the
preliminary value of the expropriated properties is improper
because it was erroneously
computed. Citing Gabatin v. Land Bank of the
Philippines,[21]
it held that the formula to compute
the just compensation should be: Land Value = 2.5 x Average
Gross Production x Government
Support Price. Specifically, it held that the value of the
government support price for the
corresponding agricultural produce (rice and corn) should be
computed at the time of the legal
taking of the subject agricultural land, that is, on October 21,
1972 when landowners were
effectively deprived of ownership over their properties by
virtue of P.D. No. 27. According to
the Court of Appeals, the PARAD incorrectly used the amounts of
P500 and P300 which are the
prevailing government support price for palay and corn,
respectively, at the time of payment,
instead of P35 and P31, the prevailing government support price
at the time of the taking in
1972.
Hence, this petition raising the following issues:
A. THE COURT A QUO HAS DECIDED THE CASE IN A WAY NOT IN
ACCORD WITH THE LATEST DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT IN
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THE CASE OF LAND BANK OF THEPHILIPPINES VS. HON. ELI G.C.
NATIVIDAD, ET AL., G.R. NO. 127198, PROM. MAY 16, 2005;
and[22]
B. THE COURT A QUO HAS, WITH GRAVE GRAVE ABUSE OF
DISCRETION, SO FAR DEPARTED FROM THE ACCEPTED AND USUAL
COURSE OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, DECIDING ISSUES THAT HAVE
NOT BEEN RAISED, AS TO CALL FOR AN EXERCISE OF THE POWER OF
SUPERVISION.[23]
Petitioners insist that the determination of just compensation
should be based on the value
of the expropriated properties at the time of payment.
Respondent LBP, on the other hand,
claims that the value of the realties should be computed as of
October 21, 1972 when P.D. No.
27 took effect.
The petition is impressed with merit.
In the case of Land Bank of the Philippines v.
Natividad,[24]
the Court ruled thus:
Land Banks contention that the property was acquired for
purposes of agrarian reform on October 21, 1972, the time of the
effectivity of PD 27, ergo
just compensation should be based on the value of the property
as of that time and
not at the time of possession in 1993, is likewise erroneous. In
Office of the
President, Malacaang, Manila v. Court of Appeals, we ruled that
the seizure of
the landholding did not take place on the date of effectivity of
PD 27 but would
take effect on the payment of just compensation.
The Natividad case reiterated the Courts ruling in Office of the
President v. Court of
Appeals[25]
that the expropriation of the landholding did not take place on
the effectivity of P.D.
No. 27 on October 21, 1972 but seizure would take effect on the
payment of just compensation
judicially determined.
Likewise, in the recent case of Heirs of Francisco R. Tantoco,
Sr. v. Court of
Appeals,[26]
we held that expropriation of landholdings covered by R.A. No.
6657 take place, not
on the effectivity of the Act on June 15, 1988, but on the
payment of just compensation.
In the instant case, petitioners were deprived of their
properties in 1972 but have yet to
receive the just compensation therefor. The parcels of land were
already subdivided and
distributed to the farmer-beneficiaries thereby immediately
depriving petitioners of their
use. Under the circumstances, it would be highly inequitable on
the part of the petitioners to
compute the just compensation using the values at the time of
the taking in 1972, and not at the
-
time of the payment, considering that the government and the
farmer-beneficiaries have already
benefited from the land although ownership thereof have not yet
been transferred in their
names. Petitioners were deprived of their properties without
payment of just compensation
which, under the law, is a prerequisite before the property can
be taken away from its
owners.[27]
The transfer of possession and ownership of the land to the
government are
conditioned upon the receipt by the landowner of the
corresponding payment or deposit by the
DAR of the compensation with an accessible bank. Until then,
title remains with the
landowner.[28]
Our ruling in Association of Small Landowners in the
Philippines, Inc. v. Secretary of
Agrarian Reform[29]
is instructive, thus:
It is true that P.D. No. 27 expressly ordered the emancipation
of tenant-
farmer as October 21, 1972 and declared that he shall be deemed
the owner of a portion of land consisting of a family-sized farm
except that no title to the land owned by him was to be actually
issued to him unless and until he had become a
full-fledged member of a duly recognized farmers cooperative. It
was understood, however, that full payment of the just compensation
also had to be
made first, conformably to the constitutional requirement.
When E.O. No. 228, categorically stated in its Section 1
that:
All qualified farmer-beneficiaries are now deemed full
owners as of October 21, 1972 of the land they acquired by
virtue
of Presidential Decree No. 27 (Emphasis supplied.)
it was obviously referring to lands already validly acquired
under the said decree,
after proof of full-fledged membership in the farmers
cooperatives and full payment of just compensation. x x x
The CARP Law, for its part, conditions the transfer of
possession and
ownership of the land to the government on receipt by the
landowner of the
corresponding payment or the deposit by the DAR of the
compensation in cash or
LBP bonds with an accessible bank. Until then, title also
remains with the
landowner. No outright change of ownership is contemplated
either.
We also note that the expropriation proceedings in the instant
case was initiated under
P.D. No. 27 but the agrarian reform process is still incomplete
considering that the just
compensation to be paid to petitioners has yet to be settled.
Considering the passage of R.A. No.
6657 before the completion of this process, the just
compensation should be determined and the
-
process concluded under the said law. Indeed, R.A. No. 6657 is
the applicable law, with P.D.
No. 27 and E.O. No. 228 having only suppletory effect.[30]
In Land Bank of the Philippines v. Court of Appeals,[31]
we held that:
RA 6657 includes PD 27 lands among the properties which the DAR
shall
acquire and distribute to the landless. And to facilitate the
acquisition and
distribution thereof, Secs. 16, 17 and 18 of the Act should be
adhered to.
Section 18 of R.A. No. 6657 mandates that the LBP shall
compensate the landowner in
such amount as may be agreed upon by the landowner and the DAR
and the LBP or as may be
finally determined by the court as the just compensation for the
land. In determining just
compensation, the cost of the acquisition of the land, the
current value of like properties, its
nature, actual use and income, the sworn valuation by the owner,
the tax declarations, and the
assessment made by government assessors shall be considered. The
social and economic
benefits contributed by the farmers and the farmworkers and by
the government to the property
as well as the nonpayment of taxes or loans secured from any
government financing institution
on the said land shall be considered as additional factors to
determine its valuation.[32]
Corollarily, we held in Land Bank of the Philippines v.
Celada[33]
that the above
provision was converted into a formula by the DAR through
Administrative Order No. 05, S.
1998, to wit:
Land Value (LV) = (Capitalized Net Income x 0.6) + (Comparable
Sales x 0.3) + (Market
Value per Tax Declaration x 0.1)
Petitioners were deprived of their properties way back in 1972,
yet to date, they have not
yet received just compensation. Thus, it would certainly be
inequitable to determine just
compensation based on the guideline provided by P.D. No. 227 and
E.O. No. 228 considering the
failure to determine just compensation for a considerable length
of time. That just compensation
should be determined in accordance with R.A. No. 6657 and not
P.D. No. 227 or E.O. No. 228,
is important considering that just compensation should be the
full and fair equivalent of the
property taken from its owner by the expropriator, the
equivalent being real, substantial, full and
ample.[34]
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is GRANTED. The
assailed Amended
Decision dated October 27, 2005 of the Court of Appeals in
CA-G.R. SP No. 77530
-
is REVERSED and SET ASIDE. The Decision dated May 26, 2004 of
the Court of Appeals
affirming (a) the March 31, 2003 Order of the Special Agrarian
Court ordering the respondent
Land Bank of the Philippines to deposit the just compensation
provisionally determined by the
PARAD; (b) the May 26, 2003 Resolution denying respondents
Motion for Reconsideration;
and (c) the May 27, 2003 Order directing Teresita V. Tengco,
respondents Land Compensation
Department Manager to comply with the March 31, 2003 Order, is
REINSTATED. The
Regional Trial Court of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, Branch 46,
acting as Special Agrarian
Court is ORDERED to proceed with dispatch in the trial of
Agrarian Case Nos. R-1339 and R-
1340, and to compute the final valuation of the subject
properties based on the aforementioned
formula.
-
Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT Manila
SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 118712 October 6, 1995
LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, PEDRO L. YAP, HEIRS OF EMILIANO F.
SANTIAGO,
AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CORP.,
respondents.
G.R. No. 118745 October 6, 1995
DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM, represented by the Secretary of
Agrarian
Reform, petitioner,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, PEDRO L. YAP, HEIRS OF EMILIANO F.
SANTIAGO,
AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CORP., ET AL.,
respondents.
FRANCISCO, R., J.:
It has been declared that the duty of the court to protect the
weak and the underprivileged should
not be carried out to such an extent as deny justice to the
landowner whenever truth and justice
happen to be on his side. 1
As eloquently stated by Justice Isagani Cruz:
. . . social justice or any justice for that matter is for the
deserving, whether he be a millionaire in his mansion or a pauper
in his hovel. It is true that, in case
of reasonable doubt, we are called upon to tilt the balance in
favor of the poor, to
whom the Constitution fittingly extends its sympathy and
compassion. But never
is it justified to prefer the poor simply because they are poor,
or to reject the rich
simply because they are rich, for justice must always be served,
for poor and rich
alike, according to the mandate of the law. 2
In this agrarian dispute, it is once more imperative that the
aforestated principles be applied in its
resolution.
Separate petitions for review were filed by petitioners
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
(G.R. No. 118745) and Land Bank of the Philippines (G.R. No.
118712) following the adverse
ruling by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 33465. However,
upon motion filed by
private respondents, the petitions were ordered
consolidated.3
-
Petitioners assail the decision of the Court of Appeals
promulgated on October 20, 1994, which
granted private respondents' Petition for Certiorari and
Mandamus and ruled as follows:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Petition for Certiorari and
Mandamus is
hereby GRANTED:
a) DAR Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 1990 is
declared null and void insofar as it provides for the opening of
trust
accounts in lieu of deposits in cash or bonds;
b) Respondent Landbank is ordered to immediately deposit not
merely "earmark", "reserve" or "deposit in trust" with an
accessible bank designated by respondent DAR in the names of
the
following petitioners the following amounts in cash and in
government financial instruments within the parameters of Sec.
18 (1) of RA 6657:
P 1,455,207.31 Pedro L. Yap
P 135,482.12 Heirs of Emiliano Santiago
P 15,914,127.77 AMADCOR;
c) The DAR-designated bank is ordered to allow the petitioners
to
withdraw the above-deposited amounts without prejudice to
the
final determination of just compensation by the proper
authorities;
and
d) Respondent DAR is ordered to
1) immediately conduct summary administrative proceedings to
determine the just compensation for the lands of the
petitioners
giving the petitioners 15 days from notice within which to
submit
evidence and to 2) decide the cases within 30 days after they
are
submitted for decision. 4
Likewise, petitioners seek the reversal of the Resolution dated
January 18,
1995, 5
denying their motion for reconsideration.
Private respondents are landowners whose landholdings were
acquired by the DAR and
subjected to transfer schemes to qualified beneficiaries under
the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law (CARL, Republic Act No. 6657).
Aggrieved by the alleged lapses of the DAR and the Landbank with
respect to the
valuation and payment of compensation for their land pursuant to
the provisions of RA
6657, private respondents filed with this Court a Petition
for Certiorari and Mandamus with prayer for preliminary
mandatory injunction. Private
-
respondents questioned the validity of DAR Administrative Order
No. 6, Series of
1992 6
and DAR Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 1990, 7
and sought to compel the
DAR to expedite the pending summary administrative proceedings
to finally determine
the just compensation of their properties, and the Landbank to
deposit in cash and bonds
the amounts respectively "earmarked", "reserved" and "deposited
in trust accounts" for
private respondents, and to allow them to withdraw the same.
Through a Resolution of the Second Division dated February 9,
1994, this Court referred the
petition to respondent Court of Appeals for proper determination
and disposition.
As found by respondent court , the following are undisputed:
Petitioner Pedro Yap alleges that "(o)n 4 September 1992 the
transfer certificates
of title (TCTs) of petitioner Yap were totally cancelled by the
Registrar of Deeds
of Leyte and were transferred in the names of farmer
beneficiaries collectively,
based on the request of the DAR together with a certification of
the Landbank that
the sum of P735,337.77 and P719,869.54 have been earmarked for
Landowner
Pedro L. Yap for the parcels of lands covered by TCT Nos. 6282
and 6283,
respectively, and issued in lieu thereof TC-563 and TC-562,
respectively, in the
names of listed beneficiaries (ANNEXES "C" & "D") without
notice to petitioner
Yap and without complying with the requirement of Section 16 (e)
of RA 6657 to
deposit the compensation in cash and Landbank bonds in an
accessible bank.
(Rollo, p. 6).
The above allegations are not disputed by any of the
respondents.
Petitioner Heirs of Emiliano Santiago allege that the heirs of
Emiliano F. Santiago
are the owners of a parcel of land located at Laur, NUEVA ECIJA
with an area of
18.5615 hectares covered by TCT No. NT-60359 of the registry of
Deeds of
Nueva Ecija, registered in the name of the late Emiliano F.
Santiago; that in
November and December 1990, without notice to the petitioners,
the Landbank
required and the beneficiaries executed Actual tillers Deed of
Undertaking
(ANNEX "B") to pay rentals to the LandBank for the use of their
farmlots
equivalent to at least 25% of the net harvest; that on 24
October 1991 the DAR
Regional Director issued an order directing the Landbank to pay
the landowner
directly or through the establishment of a trust fund in the
amount of P135,482.12,
that on 24 February 1992, the Landbank reserved in trust
P135,482.12 in the name
of Emiliano F. Santiago. (ANNEX "E"; Rollo,
p. 7); that the beneficiaries stopped paying rentals to the
landowners after they
signed the Actual Tiller's Deed of Undertaking committing
themselves to pay
rentals to the LandBank (Rollo, p. 133).
The above allegations are not disputed by the respondents except
that respondent
Landbank claims 1) that it was respondent DAR, not Landbank
which required
the execution of Actual Tillers Deed of Undertaking (ATDU, for
brevity); and 2)
-
that respondent Landbank, although armed with the ATDU, did not
collect any
amount as rental from the substituting beneficiaries (Rollo, p.
99).
Petitioner Agricultural Management and Development Corporation
(AMADCOR,
for brevity) alleges with respect to its properties located in
San Francisco, Quezon that the properties of AMADCOR in San
Francisco, Quezon consist of a parcel of land covered by TCT No.
34314 with an area of 209.9215 hectares and
another parcel covered by TCT No. 10832 with an area of 163.6189
hectares; that
a summary administrative proceeding to determine compensation of
the property
covered by TCT No. 34314 was conducted by the DARAB in Quezon
City
without notice to the landowner; that a decision was rendered on
24 November
1992 (ANNEX "F") fixing the compensation for the parcel of land
covered by
TCT No. 34314 with an area of 209.9215 hectares at P2,768,326.34
and ordering
the Landbank to pay or establish a trust account for said amount
in the name of
AMADCOR; and that the trust account in the amount of
P2,768,326.34 fixed in
the decision was established by adding P1,986,489.73 to the
first trust account
established on 19 December 1991 (ANNEX "G"). With respect to
petitioner
AMADCOR's property in Tabaco, Albay, it is alleged that the
property of
AMADCOR in Tabaco, Albay is covered by TCT No. T-2466 of the
Register of
Deeds of Albay with an area of 1,629.4578 hectares'; that
emancipation patents
were issued covering an area of 701.8999 hectares which were
registered on 15
February 1988 but no action was taken thereafter by the DAR to
fix the
compensation for said land; that on 21 April 1993, a trust
account in the name of
AMADCOR was established in the amount of P12,247,217.83', three
notices of
acquisition having been previously rejected by AMADCOR. (Rollo,
pp. 8-9)
The above allegations are not disputed by the respondents except
that respondent
Landbank claims that petitioner failed to participate in the
DARAB proceedings
(land valuation case) despite due notice to it (Rollo, p. 100).
8
Private respondents argued that Administrative Order No. 9,
Series of 1990 was issued without
jurisdiction and with grave abuse of discretion because it
permits the opening of trust accounts
by the Landbank, in lieu of depositing in cash or bonds in an
accessible bank designated by the
DAR, the compensation for the land before it is taken and the
titles are cancelled as provided
under Section 16(e) of RA 6657. 9
Private respondents also assail the fact that the DAR and
the
Landbank merely "earmarked", "deposited in trust" or "reserved"
the compensation in their
names as landowners despite the clear mandate that before taking
possession of the property, the
compensation must be deposited in cash or in bonds. 10
Petitioner DAR, however, maintained that Administrative Order
No. 9 is a valid exercise of its
rule-making power pursuant to Section 49 of RA 6657. 11
Moreover, the DAR maintained that
the issuance of the "Certificate of Deposit" by the Landbank was
a substantial compliance with
Section 16(e) of RA 6657 and the ruling in the case of
Association of Small Landowners in the
Philippines, Inc., et al. vs. Hon. Secretary of Agrarian Reform,
G.R. No. 78742, July 14, 1989
(175 SCRA 343). 12
-
For its part, petitioner Landbank declared that the issuance of
the Certificates of Deposits was in
consonance with Circular Nos. 29, 29-A and 54 of the Land
Registration Authority where the
words "reserved/deposited" were also used. 13
On October 20, 1994, the respondent court rendered the assailed
decision in favor of private
respondents. 14
Petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration but respondent
court denied the
same. 15
Hence, the instant petitions.
On March 20, 1995, private respondents filed a motion to dismiss
the petition in G.R. No.
118745 alleging that the appeal has no merit and is merely
intended to delay the finality of the
appealed decision. 16
The Court, however, denied the motion and instead required
the
respondents to file their comments. 17
Petitioners submit that respondent court erred in (1) declaring
as null and void DAR
Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 1990, insofar as it
provides for the opening of trust
accounts in lieu of deposit in cash or in bonds, and (2) in
holding that private respondents are
entitled as a matter of right to the immediate and provisional
release of the amounts deposited in
trust pending the final resolution of the cases it has filed for
just compensation.
Anent the first assignment of error, petitioners maintain that
the word "deposit" as used in
Section 16(e) of RA 6657 referred merely to the act of
depositing and in no way excluded the
opening of a trust account as a form of deposit. Thus, in opting
for the opening of a trust account
as the acceptable form of deposit through Administrative
Circular No. 9, petitioner DAR did not
commit any grave abuse of discretion since it merely exercised
its power to promulgate rules and
regulations in implementing the declared policies of RA
6657.
The contention is untenable. Section 16(e) of RA 6657 provides
as follows:
Sec. 16. Procedure for Acquisition of Private Lands
xxx xxx xxx
(e) Upon receipt by the landowner of the corresponding payment
or, in case of
rejection or no response from the landowner, upon the deposit
with an accessible
bank designated by the DAR of the compensation in cash or in LBP
bonds in
accordance with this Act, the DAR shall take immediate
possession of the land
and shall request the proper Register of Deeds to issue a
Transfer Certificate of
Title (TCT) in the name of the Republic of the Philippines. . .
. (emphasis
supplied)
It is very explicit therefrom that the deposit must be made only
in "cash" or in "LBP bonds".
Nowhere does it appear nor can it be inferred that the deposit
can be made in any other form. If it
were the intention to include a "trust account" among the valid
modes of deposit, that should
have been made express, or at least, qualifying words ought to
have appeared from which it can
-
be fairly deduced that a "trust account" is allowed. In sum,
there is no ambiguity in Section 16(e)
of RA 6657 to warrant an expanded construction of the term
"deposit".
The conclusive effect of administrative construction is not
absolute. Action of an administrative
agency may be disturbed or set aside by the judicial department
if there is an error of law, a
grave abuse of power or lack of jurisdiction or grave abuse of
discretion clearly conflicting with
either the letter or the spirit of a legislative enactment.
18
In this regard, it must be stressed that
the function of promulgating rules and regulations may be
legitimately exercised only for the
purpose of carrying the provisions of the law into effect. The
power of administrative agencies is
thus confined to implementing the law or putting it into effect.
Corollary to this is that
administrative regulations cannot extend
the law and amend a legislative enactment, 19
for settled is the rule that administrative regulations
must be in harmony with the provisions of the law. And in case
there is a discrepancy between
the basic law and an implementing rule or regulation, it is the
former that prevails. 20
In the present suit, the DAR clearly overstepped the limits of
its power to enact rules and
regulations when it issued Administrative Circular No. 9. There
is no basis in allowing the
opening of a trust account in behalf of the landowner as
compensation for his property because,
as heretofore discussed, Section 16(e) of RA 6657 is very
specific that the deposit must be made
only in "cash" or in "LBP bonds". In the same vein, petitioners
cannot invoke LRA Circular Nos.
29, 29-A and 54 because these implementing regulations cannot
outweigh the clear provision of
the law. Respondent court therefore did not commit any error in
striking down Administrative
Circular No. 9 for being null and void.
Proceeding to the crucial issue of whether or not private
respondents are entitled to withdraw the
amounts deposited in trust in their behalf pending the final
resolution of the cases involving the
final valuation of their properties, petitioners assert the
negative.
The contention is premised on the alleged distinction between
the deposit of compensation under
Section 16(e) of RA 6657 and payment of final compensation as
provided under Section 18 21
of
the same law. According to petitioners, the right of the
landowner to withdraw the amount
deposited in his behalf pertains only to the final valuation as
agreed upon by the landowner, the
DAR and the LBP or that adjudged by the court. It has no
reference to amount deposited in the
trust account pursuant to Section 16(e) in case of rejection by
the landowner because the latter
amount is only provisional and intended merely to secure
possession of the property pending
final valuation. To further bolster the contention petitioners
cite the following pronouncements in
the case of "Association of Small Landowners in the Phil. Inc.
vs. Secretary of Agrarian
Reform". 22
The last major challenge to CARP is that the landowner is
divested of his property
even before actual payment to him in full of just compensation,
in contravention
of a well-accepted principle of eminent domain.
xxx xxx xxx
-
The CARP Law, for its part conditions the transfer of possession
and ownership
of the land to the government on receipt by the landowner of the
corresponding
payment or the deposit by the DAR of the compensation in cash or
LBP bonds
with an accessible bank. Until then, title also remains with the
landowner. No
outright change of ownership is contemplated either.
xxx xxx xxx
Hence the argument that the assailed measures violate due
process by arbitrarily
transferring title before the land is fully paid for must also
be rejected.
Notably, however, the aforecited case was used by respondent
court in discarding petitioners'
assertion as it found that:
. . . despite the "revolutionary" character of the expropriation
envisioned under
RA 6657 which led the Supreme Court, in the case of Association
of Small
Landowners in the Phil. Inc. vs. Secretary of Agrarian Reform
(175 SCRA 343),
to conclude that "payments of the just compensation is not
always required to be
made fully in money" even as the Supreme Court admits in the
same case "that the traditional medium for the payment of just
compensation is money and no
other" the Supreme Court in said case did not abandon the
"recognized rule . . . that title to the property expropriated
shall pass from the owner to the
expropriator only upon full payment of the just compensation."
23
(Emphasis
supplied)
We agree with the observations of respondent court. The ruling
in the "Association" case merely
recognized the extraordinary nature of the expropriation to be
undertaken under RA 6657
thereby allowing a deviation from the traditional mode of
payment of compensation and
recognized payment other than in cash. It did not, however,
dispense with the settled rule that
there must be full payment of just compensation before the title
to the expropriated property is
transferred.
The attempt to make a distinction between the deposit of
compensation under Section 16(e) of
RA 6657 and determination of just compensation under Section 18
is unacceptable. To withhold
the right of the landowners to appropriate the amounts already
deposited in their behalf as
compensation for their properties simply because they rejected
the DAR's valuation, and
notwithstanding that they have already been deprived of the
possession and use of such
properties, is an oppressive exercise of eminent domain. The
irresistible expropriation of private
respondents' properties was painful enough for them. But
petitioner DAR rubbed it in all the
more by withholding that which rightfully belongs to private
respondents in exchange for the
taking, under an authority (the "Association" case) that is,
however, misplaced. This is misery
twice bestowed on private respondents, which the Court must
rectify.
Hence, we find it unnecessary to distinguish between provisional
compensation under Section
16(e) and final compensation under Section 18 for purposes of
exercising the landowners' right
to appropriate the same. The immediate effect in both situations
is the same, the landowner is
-
deprived of the use and possession of his property for which he
should be fairly and immediately
compensated. Fittingly, we reiterate the cardinal rule that:
. . . within the context of the State's inherent power of
eminent domain, just
compensation means not only the correct determination of the
amount to be paid
to the owner of the land but also the payment of the land within
a reasonable time
from its taking. Without prompt payment, compensation cannot be
considered
"just" for the property owner is made to suffer the consequence
of being
immediately deprived of his land while being made to wait for a
decade or more
before actually receiving the amount necessary to cope with his
loss. 24
(Emphasis
supplied)
The promulgation of the "Association" decision endeavored to
remove all legal obstacles in the
implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and
clear the way for the true
freedom of the farmer. 25
But despite this, cases involving its implementation continue
to
multiply and clog the courts' dockets. Nevertheless, we are
still optimistic that the goal of totally
emancipating the farmers from their bondage will be attained in
due time. It must be stressed,
however, that in the pursuit of this objective, vigilance over
the rights of the landowners is
equally important because social justice cannot be invoked to
trample on the rights of property
owners, who under our Constitution and laws are also entitled to
protection. 26
WHEREFORE, the foregoing premises considered, the petition is
hereby DENIED for lack of
merit and the appealed decision is AFFIRMED in toto.
SO ORDERED.
Regalado, Puno and Mendoza, JJ., concur.
Narvasa, C.J., is on leave.
Footnotes
1 Gelos v. Court of Appeals, 208 SCRA 608. 615 (1992), quoting
Justice
Alicia Sempio-Diy.
2 Ibid, p. 616.
3 Rollo, p. 7.
4 Rollo, pp. 122-123.
5 Rollo, p. 149.
6 which provides formulas for the valuation of land expropriated
under
RA 6657.
-
7 which provides for the opening of trust accounts in the Land
Bank
instead of depositing in an accessible bank, in cash and bonds,
the
compensation for land expropriated by the DAR.
8 Rollo, pp. 109-111.
9 Sec. 16. Procedure for Acquisition of Private Lands. For
purposes of acquisition of private lands, the following shall be
followed:
xxx xxx xxx
(e) Upon receipt by the landowner of the corresponding payment
or, in
case of rejection or no response from the landowner, upon the
deposit with
an accessible bank designated by the DAR of the compensation in
cash or
in LBP bonds in accordance with this Act, the DAR shall take
immediate
possession of the land and shall request the proper Register of
Deeds to
issue a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) in the name of the
Republic of
the Philippines. The DAR shall thereafter proceed with the
redistribution
of the land to the qualified beneficiaries.
10 Rollo, p. 111.
11 Sec. 49. Rules and Regulations. The PARC and the DAR shall
have the power to issue rules and regulations, whether substantive
or
procedural, to carry out the objects and purposes of this Act.
Said rules
shall take effect ten (l0) days after the publication in two (2)
national
newspapers of general circulation.
12 Rollo, pp. 111-112.
13 Rollo, p. 112.
14 Rollo, p. 107.
15 Rollo, p. 149.
16 Rollo, p. 63.
17 Rollo, p. 67.
18 Peralta vs. Civil Service Commission 212 SCRA 425, 432
(1992).
19 Toledo vs. Civil Service Commission 202 SCRA 507, 54
(1991) citing Teoxon v. Members of the Board of
Administrators,
Philippine Veterans Administration, 33 SCRA 585, 589
-
(1970),citing Santos vs. Estenzo, 109 Phil. 419 (1960); Animos
vs. Phil.
Veterans Affairs Office, 174 SCRA 214, 223-224 (1989).
20 Shell Philippines, Inc. vs. Central Bank of the Philippines,
162 SCRA
628 (1988).
21 Sec. 18. Valuation and Mode of Compensation. The LBP shall
compensate the landowner in such amount as may be agreed upon by
the
landowner and the DAR and LBP in accordance with the criteria
provided
for in Sections 16 and 17 and other pertinent provisions hereof,
or as may
be finally determined by the court as the just compensation for
the land.
22 175 SCRA 343.
23 Decision, Court of Appeals, p. 14.
24 Municipality of Makati vs. Court of Appeals, 190 SCRA 207,
213
(1990) citing Cosculluela vs. The Hon. Court of Appeals, 164
SCRA 393,
400 (1988); Provincial Government of Sorsogon vs. Vda. de
Villaroya,
153 SCRA 291, 302 (1987).
25 175 SCRA 343, 392.
26 Mata vs. Court of Appeals, 207 SCRA 748, 753 (1992).
-
DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN G.R. No. 162070
REFORM, represented by SECRETARY
JOSE MARI B. PONCE (OIC), Present:
Petitioner, Davide, C.J.,
Puno,
Panganiban,
Quisumbing,
Ynares-Santiago,
Sandoval-Gutierrez,
Carpio,
- versus - Austria-Martinez,
Corona,
Carpio Morales,
Callejo, Sr.,
Azcuna,
Tinga,
Chico-Nazario and
Garcia, JJ.
DELIA T. SUTTON, ELLA T.
SUTTON-SOLIMAN and Promulgated:
HARRY T. SUTTON,
Respondents. October 19, 2005
x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - x
DECISION
PUNO, J.:
This is a petition for review filed by the Department of
Agrarian Reform (DAR) of the
Decision and Resolution of the Court of Appeals, dated September
19, 2003 and February 4,
2004, respectively, which declared DAR Administrative Order
(A.O.) No. 9, series of 1993, null
and void for being violative of the Constitution.
The case at bar involves a land in Aroroy, Masbate, inherited by
respondents which has
been devoted exclusively to cow and calf breeding. On October
26, 1987, pursuant to the then
existing agrarian reform program of the government, respondents
made a voluntary offer to sell
(VOS)[1]
their landholdings to petitioner DAR to avail of certain
incentives under the law.
-
On June 10, 1988, a new agrarian law, Republic Act (R.A.) No.
6657, also known as the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) of 1988, took effect.
It included in its coverage
farms used for raising livestock, poultry and swine.
On December 4, 1990, in an en banc decision in the case of Luz
Farms v. Secretary of
DAR,[2]
this Court ruled that lands devoted to livestock and
poultry-raising are not included in
the definition of agricultural land. Hence, we declared as
unconstitutional certain provisions of
the CARL insofar as they included livestock farms in the
coverage of agrarian reform.
In view of the Luz Farms ruling, respondents filed with
petitioner DAR a formal request
to withdraw their VOS as their landholding was devoted
exclusively to cattle-raising and thus
exempted from the coverage of the CARL.[3]
On December 21, 1992, the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer of
Aroroy, Masbate,
inspected respondents land and found that it was devoted solely
to cattle-raising and
breeding. He recommended to the DAR Secretary that it be
exempted from the coverage of the
CARL.
On April 27, 1993, respondents reiterated to petitioner DAR the
withdrawal of their VOS
and requested the return of the supporting papers they submitted
in connection
therewith.[4]
Petitioner ignored their request.
On December 27, 1993, DAR issued A.O. No. 9, series of
1993,[5]
which provided that
only portions of private agricultural lands used for the raising
of livestock, poultry and swine as
of June 15, 1988 shall be excluded from the coverage of the
CARL. In determining the area of
land to be excluded, the A.O. fixed the following retention
limits, viz: 1:1 animal-land ratio
(i.e., 1 hectare of land per 1 head of animal shall be retained
by the landowner), and a ratio of
1.7815 hectares for livestock infrastructure for every 21 heads
of cattle shall likewise be
excluded from the operations of the CARL.
-
On February 4, 1994, respondents wrote the DAR Secretary and
advised him to consider
as final and irrevocable the withdrawal of their VOS as, under
the Luz Farms doctrine, their
entire landholding is exempted from the CARL.[6]
On September 14, 1995, then DAR Secretary Ernesto D. Garilao
issued an
Order[7]
partially granting the application of respondents for exemption
from the coverage of
CARL. Applying the retention limits outlined in the DAR A.O. No.
9, petitioner exempted 1,209
hectares of respondents land for grazing purposes, and a maximum
of 102.5635 hectares for
infrastructure. Petitioner ordered the rest of respondents
landholding to be segregated and
placed under Compulsory Acquisition.
Respondents moved for reconsideration. They contend that their
entire landholding
should be exempted as it is devoted exclusively to
cattle-raising. Their motion was
denied.[8]
They filed a notice of appeal[9]
with the Office of the President assailing: (1) the
reasonableness and validity of DAR A.O. No. 9, s. 1993, which
provided for a ratio between land
and livestock in determining the land area qualified for
exclusion from the CARL, and (2) the
constitutionality of DAR A.O. No. 9, s. 1993, in view of the Luz
Farms case which declared
cattle-raising lands excluded from the coverage of agrarian
reform.
On October 9, 2001, the Office of the President affirmed the
impugned Order of petitioner
DAR.[10]
It ruled that DAR A.O. No. 9, s. 1993, does not run counter to
the Luz Farms case as
the A.O. provided the guidelines to determine whether a certain
parcel of land is being used for
cattle-raising. However, the issue on the constitutionality of
the assailed A.O. was left for the
determination of the courts as the sole arbiters of such
issue.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the
respondents. It declared DAR A.O.
No. 9, s. 1993, void for being contrary to the intent of the
1987 Constitutional Commission to
-
exclude livestock farms from the land reform program of the
government. The dispositive
portion reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, DAR Administrative Order No.
09,
Series of 1993 is hereby DECLARED null and void. The assailed
order of the
Office of the President dated 09 October 2001 in so far as it
affirmed the
Department of Agrarian Reforms ruling that petitioners
landholding is covered by the agrarian reform program of the
government isREVERSED and SET
ASIDE.
SO ORDERED.[11]
Hence, this petition.
The main issue in the case at bar is the constitutionality of
DAR A.O. No. 9, series of
1993, which prescribes a maximum retention limit for owners of
lands devoted to livestock
raising.
Invoking its rule-making power under Section 49 of the CARL,
petitioner submits that it
issued DAR A.O. No. 9 to limit the area of livestock farm that
may be retained by a landowner
pursuant to its mandate to place all public and private
agricultural lands under the coverage of
agrarian reform. Petitioner also contends that the A.O. seeks to
remedy reports that some
unscrupulous landowners have converted their agricultural farms
to livestock farms in order to
evade their coverage in the agrarian reform program.
Petitioners arguments fail to impress.
Administrative agencies are endowed with powers legislative in
nature, i.e., the power to
make rules and regulations. They have been granted by Congress
with the authority to issue
rules to regulate the implementation of a law entrusted to them.
Delegated rule-making has
become a practical necessity in modern governance due to the
increasing complexity and variety
of public functions. However, while administrative rules and
regulations have the force and
effect of law, they are not immune from judicial review.[12]
They may be properly challenged
-
before the courts to ensure that they do not violate the
Constitution and no grave abuse of
administrative discretion is committed by the administrative
body concerned.
The fundamental rule in administrative law is that, to be valid,
administrative rules and
regulations must be issued by authority of a law and must not
contravene the provisions of
the Constitution.[13]
The rule-making power of an administrative agency may not be
used to
abridge the authority given to it by Congress or by the
Constitution. Nor can it be used to
enlarge the power of the administrative agency beyond the scope
intended. Constitutional
and statutory provisions control with respect to what rules and
regulations may be
promulgated by administrative agencies and the scope of their
regulations.[14]
In the case at bar, we find that the impugned A.O. is invalid as
it contravenes the
Constitution. The A.O. sought to regulate livestock farms by
including them in the coverage of
agrarian reform and prescribing a maximum retention limit for
their ownership. However, the
deliberations of the 1987 Constitutional Commission show a clear
intent to exclude, inter
alia, all lands exclusively devoted to livestock, swine and
poultry- raising. The Court
clarified in the Luz Farms case that livestock, swine and
poultry-raising are industrial activities
and do not fall within the definition of agriculture or
agricultural activity. The raising of
livestock, swine and poultry is different from crop or tree
farming. It is an industrial, not an
agricultural, activity. A great portion of the investment in
this enterprise is in the form of
industrial fixed assets, such as: animal housing structures and
facilities, drainage, waterers and
blowers, feedmill with grinders, mixers, conveyors, exhausts and
generators, extensive
warehousing facilities for feeds and other supplies,
anti-pollution equipment like bio-gas and
digester plants augmented by lagoons and concrete ponds,
deepwells, elevated water tanks,
pumphouses, sprayers, and other technological
appurtenances.[15]
-
Clearly, petitioner DAR has no power to regulate livestock farms
which have been
exempted by the Constitution from the coverage of agrarian
reform. It has exceeded its
power in issuing the assailed A.O.
The subsequent case of Natalia Realty, Inc. v. DAR[16]
reiterated our ruling in the Luz
Farms case. In Natalia Realty, the Court held that industrial,
commercial and residential lands
are not covered by the CARL.[17]
We stressed anew that while Section 4 of R.A. No. 6657
provides that the CARL shall cover all public and private
agricultural lands, the term
agricultural land does not include lands classified as mineral,
forest, residential,
commercial or industrial. Thus, in Natalia Realty, even portions
of the Antipolo Hills
Subdivision, which are arable yetstill undeveloped, could not be
considered as agricultural
lands subject to agrarian reform as these lots were already
classified as residential lands.
A similar logical deduction should be followed in the case at
bar. Lands devoted to raising
of livestock, poultry and swine have been classified as
industrial, not agricultural, lands and thus
exempt from agrarian reform. Petitioner DAR argues that, in
issuing the impugned A.O., it was
seeking to address the reports it has received that some
unscrupulous landowners have been
converting their agricultural lands to livestock farms to avoid
their coverage by the agrarian
reform. Again, we find neither merit nor logic in this
contention. The undesirable scenario
which petitioner seeks to prevent with the issuance of the A.O.
clearly does not apply in this
case. Respondents family acquired their landholdings as early as
1948. They have long been in
the business of breeding cattle in Masbate which is popularly
known as the cattle-breeding
capital of the Philippines.[18]
Petitioner DAR does not dispute this fact. Indeed, there is
no
evidence on record that respondents have just recently engaged
in or converted to the business of
breeding cattle after the enactment of the CARL that may lead
one to suspect that respondents
intended to evade its coverage. It must be stressed that what
the CARL prohibits is
-
the conversion of agricultural lands for non-agricultural
purposes after the effectivity of the
CARL. There has been no change of business interest in the case
of respondents.
Moreover, it is a fundamental rule of statutory construction
that the reenactment of a
statute by Congress without substantial change is an implied
legislative approval and adoption of
the previous law. On the other hand, by making a new law,
Congress seeks to supersede an
earlier one.[19]
In the case at bar, after the passage of the 1988 CARL, Congress
enacted R.A.
No. 7881[20]
which amended certain provisions of the CARL. Specifically, the
new law changed
the definition of the terms agricultural activity and commercial
farming by dropping
from its coverage lands that are devoted to commercial
livestock, poultry and swine-
raising.[21]
With this significant modification, Congress clearly sought to
align the
provisions of our agrarian laws with the intent of the 1987
Constitutional Commission to
exclude livestock farms from the coverage of agrarian
reform.
In sum, it is doctrinal that rules of administrative bodies must
be in harmony with the
provisions of the Constitution. They cannot amend or extend the
Constitution. To be valid, they
must conform to and be consistent with the Constitution. In case
of conflict between an
administrative order and the provisions of the Constitution, the
latter prevails.[22]
The assailed
A.O. of petitioner DAR was properly stricken down as
unconstitutional as it enlarges the
coverage of agrarian reform beyond the scope intended by the
1987 Constitution.
IN VIEW WHEREOF, the petition is DISMISSED. The assailed
Decision and
Resolution of the Court of Appeals, dated September 19, 2003 and
February 4, 2004,
respectively, are AFFIRMED. No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
-
Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. 103302 August 12, 1993
NATALIA REALTY, INC., AND ESTATE DEVELOPERS AND INVESTORS
CORP., petitioners,
vs.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM, SEC. BENJAMIN T. LEONG and
DIR.
WILFREDO LEANO, DAR REGION IV, respondents.
Lino M. Patajo for petitioners.
The Solicitor General for respondents.
BELLOSILLO, J.:
Are lands already classified for residential, commercial or
industrial use, as approved by the
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and its precursor agencies
1
prior to 15 June
1988, 2
covered by R.A. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law of
1988? This is the pivotal issue in this petition for certiorari
assailing the Notice of Coverage 3
of
the Department of Agrarian Reform over parcels of land already
reserved as townsite areas
before the enactment of the law.
Petitioner Natalia Realty, Inc. (NATALIA, for brevity) is the
owner of three (3) contiguous
parcels of land located in Banaba, Antipolo, Rizal, with areas
of 120.9793 hectares, 1.3205
hectares and 2.7080 hectares, or a total of 125.0078 hectares,
and embraced in Transfer
Certificate of Title No. 31527 of the Register of Deeds of the
Province of Rizal.
On 18 April 1979, Presidential Proclamation No. 1637 set aside
20,312 hectares of land located
in the Municipalities of Antipolo, San Mateo and Montalban as
townsite areas to absorb the
population overspill in the metropolis which were designated as
the Lungsod Silangan Townsite.
The NATALIA properties are situated within the areas proclaimed
as townsite reservation.
Since private landowners were allowed to develop their
properties into low-cost housing
subdivisions within the reservation, petitioner Estate
Developers and Investors Corporation
(EDIC, for brevity), as developer of NATALIA properties, applied
for and was granted
preliminary approval and locational clearances by the Human
Settlements Regulatory
Commission. The necessary permit for Phase I of the subdivision
project, which consisted of
-
13.2371 hectares, was issued sometime in 1982; 4
for Phase II, with an area of 80,000 hectares,
on 13 October 1983; 5
and for Phase III, which consisted of the remaining 31.7707
hectares, on
25 April 1986. 6
Petitioner were likewise issued development permits 7
after complying with the
requirements. Thus the NATALIA properties later became the
Antipolo Hills Subdivision.
On 15 June 1988, R.A. 6657, otherwise known as the
"Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of
1988" (CARL, for brevity), went into effect. Conformably
therewith, respondent Department of
Agrarian Reform (DAR, for brevity), through its Municipal
Agrarian Reform Officer, issued on
22 November 1990 a Notice of Coverage on the undeveloped
portions of the Antipolo Hills
Subdivision which consisted of roughly 90.3307 hectares. NATALIA
immediately registered its
objection to the notice of Coverage.
EDIC also protested to respondent Director Wilfredo Leano of the
DAR Region IV Office and
twice wrote him requesting the cancellation of the Notice of
Coverage.
On 17 January 1991, members of the Samahan ng Magsasaka sa
Bundok Antipolo, Inc.
(SAMBA, for the brevity), filed a complaint against NATALIA and
EDIC before the DAR
Regional Adjudicator to restrain petitioners from developing
areas under cultivation by SAMBA
members. 8
The Regional Adjudicator temporarily restrained petitioners from
proceeding with
the development of the subdivision. Petitioners then moved to
dismiss the complaint; it was
denied. Instead, the Regional Adjudicator issued on 5 March 1991
a Writ of Preliminary
Injunction.
Petitioners NATALIA and EDIC elevated their cause to the DAR
Adjudication Board
(DARAB); however, on 16 December 1991 the DARAB merely remanded
the case to the
Regional Adjudicator for further proceedings. 9
In the interim, NATALIA wrote respondent Secretary of Agrarian
Reform reiterating its request
to set aside the Notice of Coverage. Neither respondent
Secretary nor respondent Director took
action on the protest-letters, thus compelling petitioners to
institute this proceeding more than a
year thereafter.
NATALIA and EDIC both impute grave abuse of discretion to
respondent DAR for including
undedeveloped portions of the Antipolo Hills Subdivision within
the coverage of the CARL.
They argue that NATALIA properties already ceased to be
agricultural lands when they were
included in the areas reserved by presidential fiat for the
townsite reservation.
Public respondents through the Office of the Solicitor General
dispute this contention. They
maintain that the permits granted petitioners were not valid and
binding because they did not
comply with the implementing Standards, Rules and Regulations of
P.D. 957, otherwise known
as "The Subdivision and Condominium Buyers Protective Decree,"
in that no application for
conversion of the NATALIA lands from agricultural residential
was ever filed with the DAR. In
other words, there was no valid conversion. Moreover, public
respondents allege that the instant
petition was prematurely filed because the case instituted by
SAMBA against petitioners before
the DAR Regional Adjudicator has not yet terminated. Respondents
conclude, as a consequence,
-
that petitioners failed to fully exhaust administrative remedies
available to them before coming
to court.
The petition is impressed with merit. A cursory reading of the
Preliminary Approval and
Locational Clearances as well as the Development Permits granted
petitioners for Phases I, II
and III of the Antipolo Hills Subdivision reveals that contrary
to the claim of public respondents,
petitioners NATALIA and EDIC did in fact comply with all the
requirements of law.
Petitioners first secured favorable recommendations from the
Lungsod Silangan Development
Corporation, the agency tasked to oversee the implementation of
the development of the townsite
reservation, before applying for the necessary permits from the
Human Settlements Regulatory
Commission. 10
And, in all permits granted to petitioners, the Commission
stated invariably therein that the applications were in
"conformance" 11
or "conformity" 12
or
"conforming" 13
with the implementing Standards, Rules and Regulations of P.D.
957. Hence,
the argument of public respondents that not all of the
requirements were complied with cannot be
sustained.
As a matter of fact, there was even no need for petitioners to
secure a clearance or prior approval
from DAR. The NATALIA properties were within the areas set aside
for the Lungsod Silangan
Reservation. Since Presidential Proclamation No. 1637 created
the townsite reservation for the
purpose of providing additional housing to the burgeoning
population of Metro Manila, it in
effect converted for residential use what were erstwhile
agricultural lands provided all requisites
were met. And, in the case at bar, there was compliance with all
relevant rules and requirements.
Even in their applications for the development of the Antipolo
Hills Subdivision, the predecessor
agency of HLURB noted that petitioners NATALIA and EDIC complied
with all the
requirements prescribed by P.D. 957.
The implementing Standards, Rules and Regulations of P.D. 957
applied to all subdivisions and
condominiums in general. On the other hand, Presidential
Proclamation No. 1637 referred only
to the Lungsod Silangan Reservation, which makes it a special
law. It is a basic tenet in statutory
construction that between a general law and a special law, the
latter prevails. 14
Interestingly, the Office of the Solicitor General does not
contest the conversion of portions of
the Antipolo Hills Subdivision which have already been
developed. 15
Of course, this is contrary
to its earlier position that there was no valid conversion. The
applications for the developed and
undeveloped portions of subject subdivision were similarly
situated. Consequently, both did not
need prior DAR approval.
We now determine whether such lands are covered by the CARL.
Section 4 of R.A. 6657
provides that the CARL shall "cover, regardless of tenurial
arrangement and commodity
produced, all public and private agricultural lands." As to what
constitutes "agricultural land," it
is referred to as "land devoted to agricultural activity as
defined in this Act and not classified as
mineral, forest, residential, commercial or industrial land."
16
The deliberations of the
Constitutional Commission confirm this limitation. "Agricultural
lands" are only those lands
which are "arable and suitable agricultural lands" and "do not
include commercial, industrial and
residential lands." 17
-
Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the undeveloped
portions of the Antipolo Hills
Subdivision cannot in any language be considered as
"agricultural lands." These lots were
intended for residential use. They ceased to be agricultural
lands upon approval of their inclusion
in the Lungsod Silangan Reservation. Even today, the areas in
question continued to be
developed as a low-cost housing subdivision, albeit at a snail's
pace. This can readily be gleaned
from the fact that SAMBA members even instituted an action to
restrain petitioners from
continuing with such development. The enormity of the resources
needed for developing a
subdivision may have delayed its completion but this does not
detract from the fact that these
lands are still residential lands and outside the ambit of the
CARL.
Indeed, lands not devoted to agricultural activity are outside
the coverage of CARL. These
include lands previously converted to non-agricultural uses
prior to the effectivity of CARL by
government agencies other than respondent DAR. In its Revised
Rules and Regulations
Governing Conversion of Private Agricultural Lands to
Non-Agricultural Uses, 18
DAR itself
defined "agricultural land" thus
. . . Agricultural lands refers to those devoted to agricultural
activity as defined in
R.A. 6657 and not classified as mineral or forest by the
Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its predecessor
agencies,
and not classified in town plans and zoning ordinances as
approved by the
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and its preceding
competent
authorities prior to 15 June 1988 for residential, commercial or
industrial use.
Since the NATALIA lands were converted prior to 15 June 1988,
respondent DAR is bound by
such conversion. It was therefore error to include the
undeveloped portions of the Antipolo Hills
Subdivision within the coverage of CARL.
Be that as it may, the Secretary of Justice, responding to a
query by the Secretary of Agrarian
Reform, noted in an Opinion 19
that lands covered by Presidential Proclamation No. 1637,
inter
alia, of which the NATALIA lands are part, having been reserved
for townsite purposes "to be
developed as human settlements by the proper land and housing
agency," are "not deemed
'agricultural lands' within the meaning and intent of Section 3
(c) of R.A. No. 6657. " Not being
deemed "agricultural lands," they are outside the coverage of
CARL.
Anent the argument that there was failure to exhaust
administrative remedies in the instant
petition, suffice it to say that the issues raised in the case
filed by SAMBA members differ from
those of petitioners. The former involve possession; the latter,
the propriety of including under
the operation of CARL lands already converted for residential
use prior to its effectivity.
Besides, petitioners were not supposed to wait until public
respondents acted on their letter-
protests, this after sitting it out for almost a year. Given the
official indifference, which under the
circumstances could have continued forever, petitioners had to
act to assert and protect their
interests. 20
-
In fine, we rule for petitioners and hold that public
respondents gravely abused their discretion in
issuing the assailed Notice of Coverage of 22 November 1990 by
of lands over which they no
longer have jurisdiction.
WHEREFORE, the petition for Certiorari is GRANTED. The Notice of
Coverage of 22
November 1990 by virtue of which undeveloped portions of the
Antipolo Hills Subdivision were
placed under CARL coverage is hereby SET ASIDE.
SO ORDERED.
Narvasa, C.J., Cruz, Feliciano, Padilla, Bidin, Grio-Aquino,
Regalado, Davide, Jr., Romero,
Nocon, Melo, Quiason, Puno and Vitug, JJ., concur.
# Footnotes
1 National Housing Authority and Human Settlements Regulatory
Commission;
see C.T. Torres v. Hibionada, G.R. No. 80916, 9 November 1990,
191 SCRA
268.
2 Date of effectivity of R.A. 6657, otherwise known as the
Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.
3 Annex "H", Petition; Rollo, p. 33.
4 Annex "A", Petition; Rollo, p. 26.
5 Annex "C", Petition; Rollo, p. 28.
6 Annex "E", Petition; Rollo, p. 30.
7 Annexes "B", "D" and "F", Petition; Rollo, pp. 27, 29 and
31.
8 Complaint, p. 3; Rollo, p. 68.
9 DARAB Resolution, 16 December 1991, p. 8; Rollo, p. 82.
10 Renamed Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) per
E.O. No. 90,
dated 17 December 1986.
11 Annexes "A" and "C", Petition; Rollo, pp. 26 and 28.
12 Annex "B", Petition; Rollo, p. 27.
13 Annexes "D" and "E", petition; Rollo, pp. 29-30.
-
14 National Power Corporation v. Presiding Judge, RTC, Br. XXV,
G.R. No.
72477, 16 October 1990, 190 SCRA 477.
15 Comment, p. 8; Rollo, p. 63.
16 Sec. 3 (c), R.A. 6657.
17 Luz Farms v. Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform,
G.R. No.
86889, 4 December 1990, 192 SCRA 51, Citing Record, CONCOM, 7
August
1986, Vol. III, p. 30.
18 DAR Administrative Order No. 1, Series of 1990.
19 Opinion No. 181, Series of 1990.
20 Rocamora v. RTC-Cebu, Br. VIII, G.R. No. 65037, 23 November
1988, 167