Cited Laws
TL;DR — Ruling
WHEREFORE, premises considered let a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER hereby issue to take effect for a period of twenty (20) days from receipt hereof; 1) Enjoining the defendant landowner and any/all persons acting for and in its behalf or under its authority to cease and desist from further bulldozing the premises in question and committing acts of dispossession or tending to disturb the peaceful possession and cultivation of the complainants of the landholdings in question.
WHEREFORE, premises considered let a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER hereby issue to take effect for a period of twenty (20) days from receipt hereof; 1) Enjoining the defendant landowner and any/all persons acting for and in its behalf or under its authority to cease and desist from further bulldozing the premises in question and committing acts of dispossession or tending to disturb the peaceful possession and cultivation of the complainants of the landholdings in question. Meantime, let the hearing of the Preliminary Injunction incident be set on November 9, 1995 at 1:30 P.M. [40] The defendants filed their Answer with Motion to Lift Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. [41] Therein, they denied the personal circumstances of the plaintiffs and the personal circumstances of the defendants Lanrico Ministerio and Alfredo Espiritu. The defendants admitted that the CAI was the registered owner of the property, but specifically denied that the plaintiffs were recognized by the CAI as tenants-occupants of the aforesaid property since 1961. They asserted that the CAI did not consent to the cultivation of the property nor to the erection of the plaintiffs houses. They further averred that the CAI had entered into a compromise agreement with the occupants of the property, the plaintiffs in Civil Case No. BCV-87-13 in the RTC of Cavite. They also alleged that they secured a permit from the Municipal Planning and Development Offices before bulldozing activities on the property were ordered. The defendants raised the following as their special and affirmative defenses: (a) the plaintiffs action is barred by the dismissal of their complaint in Civil Case No. BCV-87-13, per Order of the RTC of Cavite, Branch 19, dated June 20, 1991; (b) the plaintiffs had waived their rights and interests over the property when they executed deeds of waiver and quitclaim in favor of the defendant CAI; (c) then Agrarian Reform Minister Estrella had issued an Order dated July 3, 1979, converting the property into a residential area and withdrawing the property from the coverage of the CARL; (d) the defendant partitioned the development of the area into Phase I, II, III and IV, while the residential property subject of the petition is in Phase IV thereof; (e) before embarking in the development of the property, the respondent CAI secured the following: (1) preliminary approval and locational clearance for phase IV; (2) development permit for 844 units; (3) Certificate of Registration No. 1069 issued by the HSRC; and (4) License to Sell No. 1053. [42] Finally, the defendants contended that the property had an 18% slope and was undeveloped; as such, it was exempt from the coverage of the CARL, under Section 10 of Rep. Act No. 6657. As compulsory counterclaim, the defendants alleged that it had entered into an Equipment Rental Requisition Contract with E.M. Aragon Enterprises for the bulldozing of the property, for which it incurred the following expenses: an advance paymen