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De Appraisal for the Province of Pampanga, was not more than
Castellvi, et al. P2,000 per hectare. The court authorized the Republic to take
G.R. No. L-20620; August 15, 1974 immediate possession of the lands upon deposit of that
Zaldivar, J. amount with the Provincial Treasurer of Pampanga.
Furthermore, the lands in the complaint are declared
Doctrine: expropriated for public use, and that the fair market value of
The elements of “taking” of property for purposes of eminent the lands is fixed at P5.00 per square meter.
domain are: (1) the expropriator must enter a private property;
(2) the entrance into private property must be for more than a Issue:
momentary period; (3) the entry into the property should be Whether or not the “taking” of Castellvi’s property has
under warrant or color of legal authority; (4) the property must taken place when the condemnor has entered and occupied the
be devoted to a public use or otherwise informally property as lessee.
appropriated or injuriously affected; and (5) the utilization of
the property for public use must be in such a way as to oust the Ruling:
owner and deprive him of all beneficial enjoyment of the No. The Supreme Court ruled that the property was
property. deemed taken only when the expropriation proceedings
commenced in 1959.
Facts:
The Republic of the Philippines occupied the land of The Republic urges that the "taking" of Castellvi's
Carmen M. vda. de Castellvi from July 1, 1947, by virtue of a property should be deemed as of the year 1947 by virtue of the
contract of lease, on a year to year basis, from July 1 of each lease agreement. However, a number of circumstances must be
year to June 30 of the succeeding year. The Republic sought to present in the "taking" of property for purposes of eminent
renew the same but Castellvi refused. The AFP refused to domain. First, the expropriator must enter a private property.
vacate the leased premises after the termination of the This circumstance is present in the instant case, when by
contract because it would be difficult for the army to vacate virtue of the lease agreement the Republic, through the AFP,
the premises in view of the permanent installations and other took possession of the property of Castellvi. Second, the
facilities worth almost P500,000.00 that were erected and entrance into private property must be for more than a
already established on the property. Castellvi then brought a momentary period. The word "momentary" when applied to
suit to eject the Philippine Air Force from the land. While this possession or occupancy of (real) property should be construed
ejectment case was pending, the Republic filed on June 26, to mean "a limited period" not indefinite or permanent. The
1959 complaints for eminent domain against the respondents aforecited lease contract was for a period of one year,
over the three parcels of land. In its complaint, the Republic renewable annually. The entry on the property, under the
alleged, among other things, that the fair market value of the lease, is temporary and considered transitory. By express
above-mentioned lands, according to the Committee on provision of the lease agreement the Republic, as lessee,
undertook to return the premises in substantially the same domain, the just compensation should be determined as of the
condition as at the time the property was first occupied by the date of the filing of the complaint. Herein, it is undisputed
AFP. It might really have been the intention of the Republic to that the Republic was placed in possession of the Castellvi
expropriate the lands in question at some future time, but property, by authority of the court, on August 10, 1959. The
certainly mere notice much less an implied notice of such taking of the Castellvi property for the purposes of
intention on the part of the Republic to expropriate the lands determining the just compensation to be paid must, therefore,
in the future did not, and could not, bind the landowner, nor be reckoned as of June 26, 1959 when the complaint for
bind the land itself. The expropriation must be actually eminent domain was filed.
commenced in court. Third, the entry into the property should
be under warrant or color of legal authority. This circumstance
in the "taking" may be considered as present in the case at bar,
because the Republic entered the Castellvi property as lessee.
Fourth, the property must be devoted to a public use or
otherwise informally appropriated or injuriously affected. It
may be conceded that the circumstance of the property being
devoted to public use is present because the property was used
by the air force of the AFP. Fifth, the utilization of the
property for public use must be in such a way as to oust the
owner and deprive him of all beneficial enjoyment of the
property. The entry of the Republic into the property and its
utilization of the same for public use did not oust Castellvi and
deprive her of all beneficial enjoyment of the property.
Castellvi remained as owner, as shown by the renewal of the
lease contract from year to year, and by the provision in the
lease contract. Neither was Castellvi deprived of all the
beneficial enjoyment of the property, because the Republic
was bound to pay, and had been paying Castellvi the agreed
monthly rentals until the time when it filed the complaint for
eminent domain on June 26, 1959.
The Court has ruled that when the taking of the
property sought to be expropriated coincides with the
commencement of the expropriation proceedings, or takes
place subsequent to the filing of the complaint for eminent