423 Phil. 150
PANGANIBAN, J.:
"IN VIEW OF ALL THE FOREGOING, for lack of jurisdiction, the assailed order of September 4, 1996 is hereby RECALLED, SET ASIDE and DECLARED NULL and VOID. The parties, if they so desire, should refer their dispute before the agrarian authorities. No pronouncement as to costs."[4]The assailed Resolution denied petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration.
"That on or about February 25, 1995, up to the following month of March, 1995, in the City of Iligan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, conspiring and confederating together and mutually helping each other, being then the overseers of some banana plants on the land owned by one Leonarda Monsanto and principally devoted to coconut trees, and having access to said land as such, with grave abuse of confidence reposed [i]n them by the said owner, with intent to gain, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, harvest and carry away coconuts from the premises of the said plantation, which the said accused then processed into copra with a total value of P6,162.50, belonging to said Leonarda Monsanto, without her consent and against her will, to the damage and prejudice of said Leonarda Monsanto in the aforesaid sum of P6,162.50, Philippine Currency."[5]After trial on the merits, the RTC acquitted them of the charge on July 24, 1996. It held as follows:
"x x x [T]he harvest in the land by the [accused] was done, not for the purpose of stealing the coconuts or the copra, but more to confirm their claim that they are tenants of the land. In fact the lack of intent to gain is shown by the fact that they immediately deposited the proceeds with the barangay captain and did not even claim a share [in] the proceeds of the copra.It then disposed of the case in the following manner:x x x x x x x x x
"In view of the foregoing, the Court finds that the [accused] are not tenants of the land and the cash deposit [from] the proceeds of the copra with the barangay captain belongs to the private complainant, Leonarda Monsanto. However, considering the lack of intent of the [accused] to gain, no criminal liability for theft has been committed by them."[6]
"WHEREFORE, the criminal case for qualified theft against the [accused] Jesus Zerna and Teresita Zerna is hereby ordered dismissed and their bail bond cancelled. The barangay captain of Buru-un, Iligan City is hereby ordered to deliver the amount of P5,162.50, representing the proceeds [from the] copra sold by the [accused] to the private complainant, Leonarda Monsanto."[7]The total proceeds of the copra sale alleged in the Information was P6,262.50. However, the awarded amount was only P5,162.50 which was deposited by private respondents with the barangay secretary of Buru-un[8] on March 2, 1995, after deducting P340 (harvesting cost) and P760 (labor cost). Thus, petitioner filed a timely Motion for Reconsideration praying that the remaining sum of P1,100 be returned to her.[9]
"In his motion for reconsideration, the private prosecutor prays that with respect to the civil aspect of the case, the accused be made to return the amount of P1,100.00 which they appropriated for themselves from the gross proceeds of the stolen property.After a review of the records and the pleadings of the parties, the CA, on appeal, ruled that the trial court had no jurisdiction to order private respondents to pay petitioner the amount of P1,100. Because the dispute involved an agricultural tenancy relationship, the matter fell within the primary and exclusive original jurisdiction of the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB). It added that inasmuch as the RTC had no jurisdiction to rule on the civil aspect of the case ergo, it had no appellate authority over the matter under a writ of error.
"Opposing the said motion, counsel for the accused avers that the amount P1,100.00 was due to the accused as compensation for their labor and equity demands that they [be] entitled to it.
"The Court has already adjudged that the accused are not guilty of theft and therefore, they cannot be considered to have stolen the coconuts. But the motion has raised another issue.
"Are the accused entitled to the amount of P1,100.00 as compensation for labor in harvesting the coconuts and processing these into copra?
"The accused plead equity in their favor since [there] appears to be no law applicable to the incident in question. However, for equity to apply, good faith must exist.
"From the findings of this Court, the harvesting of the coconuts and processing of the same into copra were not with the consent of the private complainant. In fact, if the proper criminal charge were made, which could be unjust vexation, the accused could have been convicted as their acts certainly vexed the private complainant by their harvesting the coconuts and selling the copra. Therefore, without good faith, since the Court found that they did the acts complained of in an attempt to confirm their tenancy claim, equity was wanting.
"The accused could not be entitled to compensation for their labor done without the consent of the private complainant since, obviously, there was no contract of labor between them for the harvesting of the coconuts and processing of these into copra.
"Even our laws on quasi-contracts do not allow compensation [for] the accused.
"Without equity or any law in their favor, the accused are therefore not entitled to compensation for their vexatious acts."[11]
I
"Is the Regional Trial Court automatically divested of jurisdiction over a criminal case where an agrarian issue is argued as a defense, no matter how flimsy?II
"Does the Court of Appeals have any competence to review an RTC Decision which ha[s] become FINAL as not appealed from, on the basis of a Notice of Appeal which was SPECIFICALLY and simply directed against an adscititious ORDER issued subsequent to that Decision?"[13]
"Where the civil liability which is included in the criminal action is that arising from and as [a] consequence of the criminal act, and the defendant was acquitted in the criminal case, no civil liability arising from the criminal charge could be imposed upon him. The liability of the defendant for the return of the amount so received by him may not be enforced in the criminal case but in a civil action for the recovery of the said amount."The foregoing ruling has been modified by the current Rules. Thus, paragraph 2 of Section 2, Rule 120 of the present Rules of Court provides that "[i]n case the judgment is of acquittal, it shall state whether the evidence of the prosecution absolutely failed to prove the guilt of the accused or merely failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In either case, the judgment shall determine if the act or omission from which the civil liability might arise did not exist."
"SECTION 1. Primary, Original and Appellate Jurisdiction. The Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board shall have primary jurisdiction, both original and appellate, to determine and adjudicate all agrarian disputes, cases, controversies, and matters or incidents involving the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program under Republic Act No. 6657, Executive Order Nos. 229, 228 and 129-A, Republic Act No 3844 as amended by Republic Act No. 6389, Presidential Decree No. 27 and other agrarian laws and their implementing rules and regulations. Specifically, such jurisdiction shall extend over but not [be] limited to the following:An agrarian dispute refers to any controversy relating to tenurial arrangements -- whether leasehold, tenancy, stewardship or otherwise -- over lands devoted to agriculture, including (1) disputes concerning farm workers' associations; or (2) representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of such tenurial arrangement.[20]
`a) Cases involving the rights and obligations of persons engaged in the cultivation and use of agricultural land covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and other agrarian laws.' "
"For DARAB to have jurisdiction over a case, there must exist a tenancy relationship between the parties. In order for a tenancy agreement to take hold over a dispute, it would be essential to establish all its indispensable elements to wit: 1) the parties are the landowner and the tenant or agricultural lessee 2) subject matter of the relationship is an agricultural land 3) there is consent between the parties to the relationship 4) that the purpose of the relationship is to bring about agricultural production 5) there is personal cultivation on the part of the tenant or agricultural lessee and 6) the harvest is shared between the landowner and the tenant or agricultural lessee."Petitioner claims that private respondents were not her tenants, and that they raised the defense of tenancy in the criminal case merely to escape prosecution for qualified theft. On the other hand, private respondents assert that they were petitioner's tenants, as shown by the evidence adduced by the parties before the RTC.
"I, MRS. LEONARDA L. MONSANTO, am the owner of that land located at Tonggo, Mimbalot, Buru-un, Iligan City. This JESUS [Z]ERNA, whose wife is TERESITA ZERNA, had requested that he be allowed to oversee Mrs. Monsanto's Banana plants under the agreement that he (Jesus Zerna) would be paid for his labor for each banana plant cut in Tonggo."Third, petitioner allowed private respondents to plant coconut, coffee, jackfruit and cacao as shown by the said Agreement, pertinent portions of which are reproduced hereunder:
"When I (Jesus Zerna) no longer want to oversee or wish to stop overseeing, Mrs. Leonarda Monsanto cannot force me to continue in the same way that I cannot force Mrs. Monsanto to hire me if my services are no longer needed."[22]
"And if I (Jesus Zerna) can plant coconut trees [o]n that land, I will be paid for them according to their ages. I (Jesus Zerna) am also allowed to plant coffee, jackfruit and cacao, under the same agreement."[23]Finally, a tenurial arrangement exists among herein parties as regards the harvesting of the agricultural products, as shown by the several remittances made by private respondents to petitioner. These are substantiated by receipts.[24]
"Indeed there are exceptions to the aforecited rule that no question may be raised for the first time on appeal. Though not raised below, the issue of lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter may be considered by the reviewing court, as it may be raised at any stage."The reason is that jurisdiction over a subject matter is conferred by law, not by the courts or the parties themselves. "Where the court itself clearly has no jurisdiction over the subject matter or the nature of the action, the invocation of this defense may be done at any time. It is neither for the courts nor the parties to violate or disregard that rule, let alone to confer that jurisdiction, this matter being legislative in character. x x x."[30]