505 Phil. 253
GARCIA, J.:
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered:Sometime in 1956, the Air Transportation Office (ATO) took possession and control of some 4,901 square-meter portion of Lot 6068, a 10,468 square-meter lot located at Pook Kalibo, Aklan. Lot 6068 is covered by Original Certificate of Title No. P-15596 of the Register of Deeds of Aklan in the names of the private respondents who are heirs of the late Segundo De la Cruz.Plaintiff is directed to pay the costs of P9,600.00 representing the Commissioners' fees equivalent to P800.00 per session for each commissioner, and P1,000.00 to Mr. Remegio M. Bautista as the designated secretary of the commissioners.
- Fixing the amount of P800.00 per square meter as just compensation to be paid by plaintiff to defendants for the taking of the subject property indicated as Lot 6068-A in the Sketch Plan (Annex B, complaint) containing an area of 4,901 square meters which is a portion of the bigger parcel of land covered by Original Certificate of Title No. P-15596. The aggregate amount shall earn legal interest of 6% per annum commencing from November 11, 1999 until the finality of this Decision, thereafter, 12% interest per annum from the finality of the Decision on the remaining unpaid amount until full payment.
- Ordering the defendants to withdraw the amount of P50,000.00 deposited provisionally with the Land Bank Kalibo Branch, Kalibo, Aklan, by the Air Transportation Office under Savings Account No. 0452-1084-45 to be deducted therefrom the costs of P10,600.00 and balance shall be deducted from the aggregate amount of the just compensation; and
- Declaring the plaintiff's lawful right to retain possession of the subject property and to appropriate it for the public purpose it was intended for, i.e., the operations of the airport control tower, Kalibo crash fire rescue station, airport terminal and headquarters of the PNP Aviation Security, upon full payment of the just compensation thereat as fixed in paragraph 1 hereof.
SO ORDERED.[2]
NOW THEREFORE, after a brief discussion and in consideration of the premises herein above presented, the Commissioners hereby recommends (sic) and fix the value of 4,901 sq. m. at P800.00 pesos per square meter and the remaining area of 5,567 square meters at P500.00 per square meter as offered by the defendants.On pre-trial, petitioner submitted a sketch plan of Lot 6068, showing the relative location of the 4,901 square-meter portion it actually occupied.
WHEREFORE, the Court finds and so holds that the additional area consisting of 5,567 square meters or Lot 6068-B (unshaded portion in Annex "B"- Complaint) is not needed by the plaintiff for public use or purpose, but only the shaded portion, Lot 6068-A, containing an area of 4,901 square meters.Eventually, in a decision dated November 26, 1999,[4] the trial court adopted the aforestated commissioner's report which fixed the just compensation for the 4,901 square-meter portion of Lot 6068 at P800.00 per square meter, the current market value of the property in 1999.
SO ORDERED.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the assailed decision dated November 26, 1999 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 5, Kalibo, Aklan in Civil Case No. 5543 is hereby AFFIRMED.In its decision, the appellate court placed emphasis on the alleged failure of petitioner prove that the "taking" of the occupied 4,901 square-meter portion of Lot 6068 occurred in 1956. More specifically, it ruled:
SO ORDERED.
Granting that indeed plaintiff-appellant's possession took place in 1956, said possession pertained to a "portion" of said lot. The admission of plaintiff-appellant that the encroachment covered a wider and wider area as time passed, puts into issue the character of said possession. Was it "taking" in the sense of expropriation?Petitioner moved for a reconsideration of the appellate court's decision but its motion was denied by said court in its resolution of April 1, 2003.
The expropriation of real property does not include mere physical entry or occupation of land. The physical entry and occupation of the property in 1956 should include all the rights that may be exercised by an owner of the subject property. Plaintiff-appellant failed to show that it intended to acquire physical possession but also the legal right to possess and ultimately to own the subject property.
Disconsolately, the assailed decision reveals inaction of plaintiff-appellant in proving its present claim which should have been done the earliest possible opportunity. It was stated that:The plaintiff, despite receipt of copy of aforesaid report and the expiration of the prescribed period to file any comment thereto, opted not to file any pleading relative thereto. Upon the other hand, the defendants interposed no objection to said report.Hence, there appears no error in the lower court's ruling that the "taking" for the purposes of fixing just compensation be considered on November 11, 1999, the date of the issuance of the writ of possession, as well as the lower court's adherence to the recommendation of the commissioners.
1. That they admit each and every allegation in paragraphs 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 of the complaint. They admit that the portion of the land sought to be expropriated which is indicated by the white shaded of the sketch plan which is attached as ANNEX "B" of the complaint with an area of 4,901 square meters, more or less, has been in the possession of the plaintiff since 1956 up to the present.Significantly, paragraph 6 of the complaint[8] which is among those admitted by the respondents, reads:
6. | The subject property has been in possession and control of ATO since 1956 and was initially devoted to parking area. At present, several structures, are erected on the area, to wit: the control tower, Kalibo crash fire rescue station, the Kalibo airport terminal and the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Aviation Security Group. Also, a part of the lot is leased to concessionaires selling local products and souvenir items. The remaining portion is intended for the expansion and other improvement of the airport. |
I. BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE RESPONDENTS' CLAIMSurely, private respondents' admissions in their Answer and Pre-Trial Brief are judicial admissions which render the taking of the lot in 1956 conclusive or even immutable. And well-settled is the rule that an admission, verbal or written, made by a party in the course of the proceedings in the same case, does not require proof.[10] A judicial admission is an admission made by a party in the course of the proceedings in the same case, for purposes of the truth of some alleged fact, which said party cannot thereafter disprove.[11] Indeed, an admission made in the pleading cannot be controverted by the party making such admission and are conclusive as to him, and that all proofs submitted by him contrary thereto or inconsistent therewith should be ignored whether objection is interposed by a party or not.[12]
- That the defendants are the owners of that certain parcel of land located at Pook, Kalibo, Aklan, Philippines, which is covered by Original Certificate Title No. T-1559-6. A portion of the land has been occupied by the plaintiff for many years now which portion of land is indicated on the sketch plan which is marked Annex "B" of the complaint.
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I1. ADMISSIONxxx xxx xxx - That this land has been in the possession of the plaintiff for many years now without paying any rental to the defendants. (Emphasis supplied)
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The value of the property should be fixed as of the date when it was taken and not the date of the filing of the proceedings. For where property is taken ahead of the filing of the condemnation proceedings, the value thereof may be enhanced by the public purpose for which it is taken; the entry by the plaintiff upon the property may have depreciated its value thereby; or, there may have been a natural increase in the value of the property from the time it is taken to the time the complaint is filed, due to general economic conditions. The owner of private property should be compensated only for what he actually loses; it is not intended that his compensation shall extend beyond his loss or injury. And what he loses is only the actual value of his property at the time it is taken. This is the only way the compensation to be paid can be truly just; i.e., "just" not only to the individual whose property is taken, "but to the public, which is to pay for it" xxx.The instant case is akin to that of Jose Ma. Ansaldo vs. Francisco S. Tantuico, Jr. and Baltazar Aquino,[19] decided 1990, where two (2) lots of private ownership were taken by the government and used for the widening of a road more than 40 years without the benefit of any action of eminent domain or agreement with its owners, albeit without protest by the latter. In a decision in that case, penned by then Chief Justice Andres Narvasa, this Court, citing the earlier case of Republic vs. PNB,[20] wrote:
Normally, of course, where the institution of an expropriation action precedes the taking of the property subject thereof, the just compensation is fixed as of the time of the filing of the complaint. This is so provided by the Rules of Court, the assumption of possession by the expropriator ordinarily being conditioned on its deposits with the National or Provincial Treasurer of the value of the property as provisionally ascertained by the court having jurisdiction of the proceedings.We are not, however, in accord with petitioner's assertion that the just compensation for the entire Lot 6068 should be fixed in the amount based on its assessed value in 1956. There is nothing on record that petitioner occupied the remaining 5,567 square-meter portion of Lot 6068, neither did it ever present proof that said unoccupied portion is necessary for public use, except for its self-serving allegation that said portion is needed for the expansion and other improvement of the airport.
There are instances, however, where the expropriating agency takes over the property prior to the expropriation suit, as in this case - although, to repeat, the case at bar is quite extraordinary in that possession was taken by the expropriator more than 40 years prior to suit. In these instances, this Court has ruled that the just compensation shall be determined as of the time of taking, not as of the time of filing of the action of eminent domain.
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"...(W)hen plaintiff takes possession before the institution of the condemnation proceedings, the value should be fixed as of the time of the taking of said possession, not of filing of the complaint and the latter should be the basis for the determination of the value, when the taking of the property involved coincides with or is subsequent to, the commencement of the proceedings. Indeed, otherwise, the provision of Rule 69, Section 3, directing that compensation 'be determined as of the date of the filing of the complaint' would never be operative.