SPOUSES RODRIGO COLOSO AND ELISA COLOSO, REPRESENTED BY THEIR SON FREDERICK COLOSO, VS. HON. SECRETARY ERNESTO V. GARILAO, IN HIS CAPACITY AS THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM, THE PROVINCIAL AGRARIAN REFORM OFFICER OF THE PROVINCE OF BATAAN, THE MUNICIPAL AGRARIAN REFORM OFFICER OF

Ruling

Accordingly, on September 8, 1969, petitioners Colosos filed a Complaint for ejectment with the then Balanga, Bataan Branch IV Court of First Instance, acting as a Court of Agrarian Relations (CAR), against the Ravago Group, docketed as CAR Case No. 266-Bataan '69, based on the conversion of petitioners' agricultural landholdings into a residential subdivision. The Colosos averred that they were the registered owners of a 300-hectare land under TCT No. 13845 and the defendants Ravago Group were leasehold tenantsthere having an implied tenancy relationship between the parties under the leasehold tenancy system; and that said defendants paid annual lease rentals for the land they were cultivating. In addition, they expressed their desire to expand their subdivision project; whereas phase II of the project involved the land occupied and cultivated by defendantsthe Ravago Group. The Colosos further averred that they were more than willing to pay the disturbance compensation and relocate the Ravago Group in the subsequent phases of their subdivision project. They prayed in the Complaint that the tenants vacate the subject landholding after payment of the required disturbance compensation to be fixed by the CAR. [1] On February 8, 1972, the CAR ultimately rendered a Decision [2] in favor of the petitioners. The dispositive portion reads: IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, judgment is hereby rendered: ordering defendants to vacate their respective landholdings situated in Samal, Bataan, owned by plaintiffs and covered under T.C.T. No. 13845 of the Office of the Register of Deeds of Bataan, and deliver possession thereof to plaintiffs; authorizing plaintiffs to convert defendants' landholdings into a residential subdivision; ordering plaintiffs to pay as disturbance compensation the amounts of one hundred (100) cavans of palay to defendants Celestino, Roberto, Ricardo and Pascual, all surnamed Valenzuela, and ten (10) cavans of palay each to defendants Casimiro Tallorin and Vicente Ravago, of the variety of palay usually planted by defendants in the landholdings in question, or their equivalent in money at the government support price of Twenty (P20.00) Pesos per cavan; ordering plaintiffs to pay, pursuant to Sec. 25 of Rep. Act. No. 3844, the amount of Two Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (P2,500.00) to defendant Celestino Valenzuela for the cost and expenses incurred in clearing and leveling his landholding; and denying defendants' claim for moral damages and litigation expenses. No pronouncement as to costs. Dissatisfied with the CAR February 8, 1972 Decision, the Ravago Group appealed it to the Court of Appeals (CA), and such appeal was docketed as CA-G.R. No. SP-01005-R. The Ravago Group questioned the CAR ruling claiming that it disregarded the provisions of Section 7 of R.A. 6389 converting their landholdings into a residential subdivision and in ordering them to vacate the same lot. The Ruling of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. No. SP-01005-R The CA Special