G.R. No. 186014 - ALI AKANG, VS. MUNICIPALITY OF ISULAN, SULTAN KUDARAT PROVINCE, REPRESENTED BY ITS MUNICIPAL MAYOR AND MUNICIPAL VICE MAYOR AND MUNICIPAL COUNCILORS/KAGAWADS.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, upon all the foregoing considerations, judgment is hereby rendered: Declaring the contract entered into between the plaintiffs and the defendant, Municipal Government of Isulan, Cotabato (now Sultan Kudarat), represented by its former Mayor, Datu Suma Ampatuan, dated July 18, 1962, as a contract to sell, without its stipulated consideration having been paid; and for having been entered into between plaintiff Ali Akang, an illiterate non-Christian, and the defendant, Municipal Government of Isulan, in violation of Section 120 of C.A. No. 141, said contract/agreement is hereby declared null and void; Declaring the Deed of Sale (Exh. 1-E) dated July 18, 1962, null and void [ab] initio, for having been executed in violation of Section 145 of the Administrative Code of Mindanao and Sulu, and of Section 120 of the Public Land Law, as amended by R.A. No. 3872; Ordering the defendants to pay plaintiffs, the value of the lot in question, Lot No. 5-B-2-B-14-F (LRC) Psd 110183, containing an area of 20,030 Square Meters, at the prevailing market value, as may [be] reflected in its Tax Declaration, or in the alternative, to agree on the payment of monthly back rentals, retroactive to 1996, until defendants should decide to buy and pay the value of said lot as aforestated, with legal interest in both cases; Ordering the defendant, Municipal Government of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, to pay plaintiffs, by way of attorneys fee, the equivalent of 30% of the value that defendants would pay the plaintiffs for the lot in question; and to pay plaintiffs the further sum of [P]100,000.00, by way of moral and exemplary damages; Ordering the defendants, members of the Sangguniang Bayan of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, to pass a resolution/ordinance for the appropriation of funds for the payment of the value of plaintiffs Lot 5-B-2-B-14-F (LRC) Psd-110183, and of the damages herein awarded to the plaintiffs; and Ordering the defendants to pay the costs of suit. For lack of merit, the counterclaims of the defendants should be, as it is hereby, dismissed. IT IS SO ORDERED.