G.R. Nos. 104774-75 - ZACARIAS OARDE AND PRESENTACION MOLAR, VS. COURT OF APPEALS, SPOUSES WILFREDO AND LOURDES GUERRERO AND SPOUSES ROGELIO AND VILMA MOLAR.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the judgment appealed from is set aside and another one entered as follows: In Civil Case No. 7975: (1) Plaintiff Zacarias Oarde is ordered reinstated as lawful tenant-tiller of Lot 17 of the Agrarian Reform Project for Barangay Gotob, Camalig, Albay and restored immediately to the possession thereof. (2) Defendants Rogelio Molar and Vilma Molar are ordered to pay damages to plaintiff Zacarias Oarde in the sum of P5,850.00. The decision of the court a quo dismissing the complaint of Presentacion Molar in Civil Case No. 7960 is hereby affirmed. No pronouncement as to costs. Although Oarde was reinstated as tenant by the Court of Appeals, he is nonetheless dissatisfied and claims a larger amount of damages. On the other hand, Molar desires to be recognized as a tenant of private respondents and to be granted damages for her eviction. Hence, this recourse to this Court. The Facts The Court finds that the facts and allegations of the contending parties are fairly recited in the trial courts decision, viz.: [4] The plaintiffs [petitioners herein] seek to enjoin the defendants [private respondents herein] from removing the former as tenant-tillers of the land in question and are likewise requesting for damages, as a result of their dislocation from the land. The following facts are admitted by the parties: 1. Their identity; 2. That the original tenant-tiller of the land was Francisco Molar, father of the plaintiff Presentacion Molar, and father-in-law of the other plaintiff Zacarias Oarde; 3. That the eldest and only son of Francisco Molar is Basilio Molar; 4. That defendant Rogelio Molar is the grandson of Francisco Molar, the former being the son of Basilio Molar; 5. That defendant spouses Wilfredo Guerrero and Lourdes Guerrero sold the herein involved parcels of land to the defendant spouses Rogelio Molar and Vilma Molar sometime in October 1987. The issue to be determined as per order of the Court dated 15 September 1988 in Civil Case No. 7975, and order dated 27 June 1988 in Civil Case No. 7960, is whether plaintiffs in both cases are tenants of defendants in possession of the land and cannot be ejected therefrom except for cause. It is the claim of the plaintiffs that they are [tenant-tillers] of the land in question. Plaintiff Zacarias Oarde, testified that he began to till the land in question on April 29, 1964 when he got married to the daughter of Francisco Molar, and to substantiate his claim, he presented as one of his witnesses Gregorio Magnaye, an employee of the Bureau of Lands. He was the Chief of a Survey Team that conducted the survey in Gotob. The other members were technicians from the DAR. He testified on cross-examination that in preparing the Summary Lists of the tenant-tillers in Gotob, Camalig, Albay, they conducted a barrio assembly. They arrived at the conclusion that certain persons were tilling certain properties owned by other persons because that was the listing of the DAR technicians (p. 11, tsn, Nov. 16,