G.R. No. 150666 - LUCIANO BRIONES AND NELLY BRIONES, VS. JOSE MACABAGDAL, FE D. MACABAGDAL AND VERGON REALTY INVESTMENTS CORPORATION. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE , the Decision dated December 11, 2000 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 48109 is AFFIRMED WITH MODIFICATION. The award of moral damages in favor of respondent-spouses Jose and Fe Macabagdal and the award of compensatory damages and attorney's fees to respondent Vergon Realty Investments Corporation are DELETED. The case is REMANDED to the Regional Trial Court of Makati City, Branch 135, for further proceedings consistent with the proper application of Articles 448, 546 and 548 of the Civil Code , as follows: 1. The trial court shall determine: the present fair price of the respondent-spouses' lot; the amount of the expenses spent by petitioners for the building of their house; the increase in value ("plus value") which the said lot may have acquired by reason thereof; and whether the value of said land is considerably more than that of the house built thereon. 2. After said amounts shall have been determined by competent evidence, the Regional Trial Court shall render judgment, as follows: The trial court shall grant the respondent-spouses a period of fifteen (15) days within which to exercise their option under Article 448 of the Civil Code , whether to appropriate the house as their own by paying to petitioners either the amount of the expenses spent by petitioners for the building of the house, or the increase in value ("plus value") which the said lot may have acquired by reason thereof, or to oblige petitioners to pay the price of said land. The amounts to be respectively paid by the respondent-spouses and petitioners, in accordance with the option thus exercised by written notice of the other party and to the Court, shall be paid by the obligor within fifteen (15) days from such notice of the option by tendering the amount to the Court in favor of the party entitled to receive it; The trial court shall further order that if the respondent-spouses exercises the option to oblige petitioners to pay the price of the land but the latter rejects such purchase because, as found by the trial court, the value of the land is considerably more than that of the house, petitioners shall give written notice of such rejection to the respondent-spouses and to the Court within fifteen (15) days from notice of the respondent-spouses' option to sell the land. In that event, the parties shall be given a period of fifteen (15) days from such notice of rejection within which to agree upon the terms of the lease, and give the Court formal written notice of such agreement and its provisos. If no agreement is reached by the parties, the trial court, within fifteen (15) days from and after the termination of the said period fixed for negotiation, shall then fix the terms of the lease, payable within the first five (5) days of each calendar month. The period for the forced lease shall not be more than two (2) years, counted from the finality of the judgment, considering the long period of time since petitioners have occupied the subject area. The r