Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila

FIRST DIVISION

G.R. No. 191545 November 22, 2010

HEIRS OF AUGUSTO SALAS, JR., represented by TERESITA D.

SALAS, Petitioners,
vs.
MARCIANO CABUNGCAL ET AL.,Respondents.

RESOLUTION

CORONA, C.J.:

Augusto Salas, Jr. is the registered owner of a parcel of agricultural land

consisting of 148.4354 hectares covered by Transfer Certificate of Title
(TCT) No. T-2807.1 The properties are located in Barangays Pusil,
Inosluban, Marawoy and Balintawak, Lipa City, Batangas.

In May 1987, Salas entered into an Owner-Contractor Agreement with

Laperal Realty Corporation for the development, subdivision and sale of the
property.2 On November 17, 1987, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory
Board (HLURB) issued Development Permit No. 7-0370 allowing Salas and
Laperal Realty to develop the property and subdivide it into a farmlot
subdivision consisting of 80 saleable lots.3 The property was further
subdivided into smaller lots for which new TCTs were issued in the name of
Salas.4

Despite the HLURB’s issuance of the aforesaid development permit and,

eventually, a license to sell covering Salas’s property, portions of the same
were still included in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)
by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).5 Petitioners protested and
have continued to untiringly protest the said inclusion and filed applications
for exemption with the DAR and its various agencies, to no avail. Petitioners’
latest effort consisted of another application for exemption filed with DAR-
Center for Land Use, Policy Planning and Implementation (DAR-CLUPPI) on
April 27, 2001.6 The application covered a total area of 82.8494 hectares
consisting of the following parcels of land:7
 TCT No. Area (in hectares) Lot Survey No.
67660 23.4967 A
67661 0.9366 B (Psd-04-0262541)
67662 31.7028 B (Psd-04-0262541)
67664 9.0587 B (Psd-04-0262541)
67665 0.2925 C (Psd-04-0262542)
68223 1.2159 J-7
68224 1.0757 J-8
68225 1.2158 J-9
68226 1.3356 J-10
68227 1.00 J-11
68228 1.00 J-12
68229 1.4802 J-13
68230 2.0443 J-14
68231 1.8060 J-15
68232 2.1663 J-16
68233 1.5454 J-17
68234 1.4769 J-18
Total Land Area 82.8494 hectares

This latest application for exemption gave rise to the instant petition.

Petitioner’s application for exemption has been ruled upon at least four times
before the instant petition in this Court. On January 7, 2004, then DAR
Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan granted the application for exemption of
the 17 lots (Pagdanganan order). On reconsideration, however, DAR
Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, who had by then replaced Pagdanganan,
ruled in favor of respondents and set aside the Pagdanganan order
(Pangandaman order).8This order prompted petitioners to appeal to the
Office of the President which set aside the Pangandaman order and
reinstated the Pagdanganan order. However, this decision was reversed by
the Court of Appeals on October 26, 2009.

In a resolution dated, September 15, 2010, this Court gave due course to
this petition and dispensed with the filing of memoranda. The case has been
calendared for deliberation.

On November 9, 2010, petitioners filed a motion for issuance of temporary

restraining order (TRO) claiming that "the majority, if not all of the
respondents, have clandestinely entered or are about to enter into
transactions for the conveyance of the 17 parcels of land" subject of this
petition.9 Petitioners also claim that respondents have already received
sizeable amounts of money as part of the consideration for the said
conveyance10. The affidavit of one Gloria Linang Mantuano, who claims to
be a tenant on petitioners’ land, dated August 18, 2010 was submitted as
proof of petitioners’ allegations.

Petitioners contend that the consummation of transactions conveying the

contested property will affect their right to defend their title to the property
thereby causing grave and irreparable injury to them. While this Court does
not agree with that claim, we still deem it to be more prudent to grant the
requested TRO.

Petitioners have shown a prima facie right to the exemption that they claim.
Former DAR Secretary Pagdanganan granted petitioners’ application for
exemption upon finding that the subject lots had already been converted to
non-agricultural even prior to the effectivity of Republic Act No. 6657,11 due
to the property’s reclassification into farmlot subdivision through the Land
Use and Zoning Ordinance of Lipa City.12 This ordinance was approved by
the HLURB in Resolution No. 35, s. 1981,13 with a certification issued by
HLURB Secretariat OIC Carolina Casaje that the Town Plan/Zoning
Ordinance of Lipa City was approved by the National Coordinating Council
for Town Planning, Housing and Zoning.14 1avv phi 1
Furthermore, the HLURB’s Rules and Regulations Implementing Farmlot
Subdivision Plan15 categorizes a farmlot subdivision as different from
agricultural land as "it is without the intended qualities of an agricultural land
and is never intended to be exclusively used for cultivation, livestock
production and agro-forestry."16

Finally, the HLURB development permit and license to sell were "indications
of the locational viability and the non-exclusivity for agricultural purposes of
the subject lots."17 All these arguments were in fact adopted by the Office of
the President on appeal.

We therefore deem it proper to grant temporary protection to petitioners’

prima facie right.

The consummation of acts leading to the disposition of the litigated property

can make it difficult to implement this Court’s decision upon resolution of the
case and can only prolong this protracted battle even more. On the other
hand, respondents would not be unduly deprived of their livelihood as they
can continue tilling the land pending the final disposition of this case. The
Court therefore finds that it is to the public interest to maintain the conditions
prevailing before the filing of this case. Posting of a bond by petitioners shall
answer for any damages which may be sustained by respondents as a
consequence of the issuance of a TRO if the Court finally decides that
petitioners are not entitled to it.

WHEREFORE, the motion for issuance of a temporary restraining order is

GRANTED upon posting by the petitioners of a bond in the amount of ₱2
Million. Respondents are enjoined from entering into transactions resulting
in the conveyance of any part of the properties subject of this case.

The parties in this case are directed to maintain the status quo and to refrain
from all actions which may affect the ownership or present possession of the
contested properties until further orders of this Court.

SO ORDERED.

RENATO C. CORONA
Chief Justice
Chairperson

WE CONCUR:
 TERESITA J. LEONARDO-DE
PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.
CASTRO
Associate Justice
Associate Justice

DIOSDADO M. PERALTA* JOSE PORTUGAL PEREZ

Associate Justice Associate Justice

CERTIFICATION

Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, I certify that the
conclusions in the above Resolution had been reached in consultation before
the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court’s Division.

RENATO C. CORONA
Chief Justice

Footnotes
* Per Special Order No. 913 dated November 2, 2010.
1Court of Appeals decision in CA-G.R. SP No. 103703 dated October 26,
2009. Rollo, p. 37.
2 CA decision. Rollo, p. 38.
3 Id.
4 CA decision. Rollo, p. 38.
5Claim of the estate in its application for exemption as cited in the CA
decision. Rollo, p. 41.
6CA decision. Rollo, p. 41. DOJ Opinion No. 44 s. 1990 by then Justice
Secretary Franklin Drilon opined that the authority of the DAR to approve
conversions of agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses could be exercised
only from the date of the effectivity of RA No. 6657.
7 CA decision. Rollo, pp. 43-44.
8 Order dated September 19, 2006.
9 Rollo, p. 178.
10 Id.
11 The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
12 CA decision. Rollo, p. 44.
13 Id, pp. 44 and 48.
14 Supra note 12.
15 Promulgated on December 28, 1981 as cited by the CA decision. Id.
16 CA decision. Rollo, pp. 44-45.
17 CA decision. Rollo, p. 44.