G.R. No. 180804 - LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. SPS. ROKAYA AND SULAIMAN BONA.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE in view of the foregoing, the instant petition for review is DISMISSED . The assailed Decision dated October 11, 2004 is REVERSED and SET ASIDE . The instant case is REMANDED to the Regional Trial Court sitting as Special Agrarian Court for further proceedings. [4] On the basis of settled rulings, we sustain the decision of the appellate court and therefore, deny the petition. The Facts Rokaya Narrazid-Bona (Rokaya) is the owner by succession of a parcel of land with an area of 338.2826 hectares located at Bataraza, Palawan covered by TCT No. T-7193. She inherited this property from her mother Bautan Narrazid who also inherited the same from her husband who traces his roots back to Sultan Narrazid, a former Sultan of Palawan. [5] LBP is the financial intermediary for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as designated under Section 64 of R.A. 6657. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on the other hand, is the lead implementing agency of the CARP. It undertakes land tenure improvement and development of program beneficiaries. From 4 December 1989 until 5 November 1990, several emancipation patents under TCT No.T-231 up to TCT No. T-429 were issued to different farmer-beneficiaries under the Operation Land Transfer (OLT) that covered the land of Rokaya. [6] A total area of 76.2380 hectares of the property was covered by the TCTs. Rokaya contested these patents asserting that they were issued without her consent and knowledge. She alleged that the farmers were not qualified to become beneficiaries because they were not her tenants but were merely squatter-farmers. [7] Meanwhile, on 12 December 1989, then Secretary Miriam Defensor Santiago of the DAR sent a Notice of Acquisition addressed to Bautan Narrazid, the mother of Rokaya, placing an area of 168.8379 hectares of the property under CARP. In the Notice, the land was valued in the amount of P3,866.36 per hectare for a total compensation of P652,788.87. [8] On 16 January 1990, Rokaya, through a letter to the Bureau of Land Acquisition and Distribution, DAR, objected to the offered price for being too low. [9] In October 1993, Rokaya filed a complaint before the RTC of Puerto Princessa City, Palawan but the same was dismissed for lack of merit. [10] Following the dismissal, Rokaya sent a letter to Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) Homer P. Tobias requesting for a re-evaluation based on the Average Annual Production per hectare of the land. In a Decision dated 8 November 1993, Regional Adjudicator for DAR Region IV Isidro Carrasca Gumtang fixed the amount of just compensation at P14,084.50 per hectare for a 121.5212 hectare-portion [11] of the property. On 7 December 1998, Rokaya agreed to a higher valuation and accepted LBPs payment of P98,633.00 per hectare or a total of P11,986, 001.00. [12] On 14 July 2000, Rokaya filed another complaint [13] before the RTC of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan praying that the just compensation for the 76.2380 hectare-portion previo