FIRST DIVISION
January 11, 2017
G.R. No. 170506
LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, Petitioner,
vs.
HEIRS OF LORENZO TAÑADA AND EXPEDITA EBARLE, Respondents.
D E C I S I O N
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J.:
Before the Court is a petition for review under Rule 45 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure assailing the Decision 1 dated April 8, 2005 as well as the Resolution2 dated November 22, 2005 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 79245, entitled "Land Bank of the Philippines v. Heirs of Lorenzo Tañada and Expedita Ebarle." The assailed April 8, 2005 appellate court ruling was an affirmance of the Decision3 dated July 13, 1999 of Branch 1 of the Regional Trial Court of Bataan in Civil Case Nos. 6328 and 6333. On the other hand, the assailed November 22, 2005 Resolution denied for lack of merit the motion for reconsideration filed by petitioner.
In the aforementioned April 8, 2005 Decision of the Court of Appeals, the factual antecedents of this case were synthesized as follows:
Respondents, the Heirs of Lorenzo Tañada and Expedita Ebarle, are the owners of several parcels of land situated in Gabon, Abucay, Bataan, covered by TCT Nos. T-8483 and T-12610, with respective land areas of 56.8564 and 16.9268 hectares. The record shows that sometime in 1988, the aforesaid parcels of land were placed under the land reform program of the government. It was determined that 16.7692 hectares from TCT No. T-8483 and 13 hectares from TCT No. T-12610 would be included in the program.
Pursuant to its mandate under Executive Order No. 405, petitioner Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) valued the properties to be taken at ₱223,837.29 for 16.7692 hectares and ₱192,610.16 for 13 hectares or a total of ₱416,447.43. Dissatisfied with this valuation for being unreasonably and unconscionably low, respondents instituted the summary administrative proceedings for the preliminary determination of just compensation in 1992 and 1993. Said cases were docketed as DARAB Case Nos. 068-B'92 for TCT No. 12610 and 103-BT'93 for TCT No. T-8483 with the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) in Region III.
With the DARAB's affirmation of the acquisition cost fixed by petitioner for the subject properties, respondents instituted separate petitions for the determination and payment of just compensation, viz.: Civil Case No. 6328 for the 16.7692 hectares covered by TCT No. T-8483 and Civil Case No. 6353 for the 13 hectares under TCT No. T-12610, both with the RTC of Bataan, Branch I. Contending that the price fixed by petitioner was unconscionably low, respondents prayed that their properties be revalued at ₱150,000.00 per hectare. Since they raised similar issues, the two (2) cases were eventually consolidated.
To establish their claim for just compensation, respondents presented Jose Dela Cruz, a vault keeper from the Office of the Bataan Register of Deeds, who testified that he is the custodian of documents and titles in the said office. Said witness identified a Deed of Sale dated 05 April 1997 executed by Horacio Limcangco who sold 6,158 square meters of land in Abucay, Bataan for ₱20,000.00 or for ₱3.24 per square meter. He also identified a Deed of Absolute Sale dated 27 August 1996 executed by Franklin and Benigno Morales whereby 53,102 square meters of land in Abucay, Bataan was sold for ₱830,000.00 or for ₱15.91 per square meter.
On the other hand, neither the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) nor petitioner presented any witness to refute the evidence presented by respondents. Instead, they offered documentary exhibits to show how, in adherence to DAR Administrative Order No. 6, Series of 1992, they arrived at the valuation of the just compensation for the subject parcels. 4 (Citations omitted.)
Upon termination of the proceedings, the trial court acting as a Special Agrarian Court (SAC) rendered the assailed July 13, 1999 Decision which favored the respondents in this case and pegged the value of the lots in question at fifteen pesos per square meter or P-150,000.00 per hectare. The dispositive portion of the trial court's judgment is reproduced here:
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered:
1. Declaring that the petitioners are entitled to just compensation; and
2. That ₱150,000.00 per hectare is just compensation for the land of the petitioners to be paid by the Land Bank of the Philippines for the areas selected by the Department of Agrarian Reform namely: 16.7692 hectares under Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-8483 and 13 hectares under Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-12610 both of the Office of the Register of Deeds of Bataan. 5