G.R. NO. 155110 - HABAGAT GRILL THROUGH LOUIE BIRAOGO, PROPRIETOR/MANAGER, VS. DMC-URBAN PROPERTY DEVELOPER, INC..D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding merit in the petition, the Court REVERSES the appealed Decision and renders judgment: 1. Commanding [Petitioner] Louie Biraogo and all persons acting for and in his behalf or by his authority to remove the Habagat Grill and all improvements he has introduced into the lot in question and to vacate said lot; and 2. Ordering said [petitioner] to pay the [respondent] P10,000.00 monthly compensation for the occupation of the land in question until the possession from December 1, 1993 of said property shall have been completely restored to the [respondent]; and 3. Ordering [petitioner] to pay [respondent] P10,000.00 as attorneys fees. [4] The assailed Resolution denied petitioners Motion for Reconsideration. The Facts The antecedents were ably summarized by the CA as follows: On June 11, 1981, David M. Consunji, Inc. acquired and became the owner of a residential lot situated in Matina, Davao City and covered by TCT No. T-82338. This lot shall henceforth be called the lot in question. On June 13, 1981, David M. Consunji, Inc. transferred said lot to its sister company, the DMC Urban Property Developers, Inc. (DMC) in whose favor TCT No. T-279042 was issued. Alleging that Louie Biraogo forcibly entered said lot and built thereon the Habagat Grill in December, 1993, DMC filed on March 28, 1994 a Complaint for Forcible Entry against Habagat Grill and/or Louie Biraogo. The Complaint was docketed as Civil Case No. 1233-D-94 in the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Branch 4, in Davao City. The Complaint alleged that as owner DMC possessed the lot in question from June 11, 1981 until December 1, 1993; that on that day, December 1, 1993, Louie Biraogo, by means of strategy and stealth, unlawfully entered into the lot in question and constructed the Habagat Grill thereon, thus illegally depriving DMC of the possession of said lot since then up to the present; that the reasonable rental value of said lot is P10,000.00 a month. Louie Biraogo in his Answer denied illegally entering the lot in question. He averred that Habagat Grill was built in 1992 inside Municipal Reservation No. 1050 (Presidential Proclamation No. 20) and so DMC has no cause of action against him. Since one of the vital issues in the case was the location of Habagat Grill, the Municipal Trial Court in Cities constituted a team composed of three members, one a Geodetic Engineer representing the DMC, another Geodetic Engineer representing Biraogo and the third from the DENR which was tasked with the duty of determining where precisely was Habagat Grill located, on the lot in question or on Municipal Reservation No. 1050. Biraogo was directed by the court to furnish the team with a copy of Municipal Reservation No. 20. Biraogo never complied. Worse, his designated Geodetic Engineer Panfilo Jayme never took oath as such and did not participate in the Relocation survey. The ones who conducted the survey were Engr. Edmindo Dida of the DENR and Engr. Jose Cordero, DMCs represen