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AFTER 32
years, justice came to a nonagenarian who claimed
Malacañang squatted on her property because a
martial-law president simply took it from her.
The
Supreme Court affirmed a ruling of the Regional Trial
Court of Manila that Tarcila Laperal Mendoza is the real
owner of the so-called Arlegui property and ordered the
government to vacate the plot. It rejected, however, the
huge amount that a lower court judge had fixed as
payment to Mendoza, and instead told the State to pay
the owner about P8 million in rental fees from 1975 to
the present.
The
Court urged that payment be expedited since, “Private
respondent is in the twilight of her life, being now
over 90 years of age. Any delay in the implementation of
this disposition would be a bitter cut.”
The
4,924-square-meter lot—about half a hectare—near the
Malacañang Palace is occupied by the offices of the
Presidential Action Center and several other agencies
under the Office of the President. It also served as
the Presidential Guest House during the term of
former-Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos.
Penned
by Associate Justice Cancio Garcia of the First
Division, the ruling described as “unconscionable” and
“ridiculous” the order of Judge Vicente Hidalgo for the
government to pay Mendoza the amount of P1.48 billion in
rental on top of the P143 million representing the
acquisition cost of the disputed property, exclusive of
interest.
It noted
the property covered by Transfer Certificate Title (TCT)
No. 118527 is relatively small in terms of actual area
and had an assessed value of only P2.39 million, has
minimal rental value during the long martial- law years,
given the very restrictive entry and exit conditions
prevailing at the vicinity at that time and even after.
Instead,
the Court ordered the Office of the President to pay
Mendoza the amount of P20,000 a month beginning July
1975 until it vacates the property and the possession is
given back to her.
The SC
also directed the OPS to pay additional interest of 6
percent per annum on the total amount due upon finality
of the decision until it is fully paid. The government
is further ordered to pay
Mendoza’s
attorney’s fees equivalent to 15 percent of the amount
due her.
In her
suit, Mendoza claimed that she had been in possession of
the property until the first week of July 1975 when a
group of armed men representing themselves to be members
of the Presidential Security Group
of then-President Marcos forcibly entered her residence
and ordered her to turn over to them the title to the
property and compelled her and the members of her
household to vacate the same.
Out of
fear for their lives,
Mendoza
said she handed her owner’s duplicate certificate copy
of TCT 118527 and left the property.
Mendoza
later found that TCT 118527 had already been cancelled
by virtue of a deed of sale in favor of the Republic
supposedly executed by her and her deceased husband on
July 15, 1975.
“The
evidence adduced indeed adequately supports a conclusion
that the Office of the President, during the
administration of then President Marcos, wrested
possession of the property in question and somehow
secured a certificate of title over it without a
conveying deed having been executed legally to justify
the cancellation of the old title in the name of private
respondent and the issuance of a new one in the name of
petitioner Republic,” the SC said.
It said
the payment has to be made by the OPS since, while the
voided title was in the name of the Republic, the
beneficial possessor is the OPS. “Accordingly, and in
accord with the elementary sense of justice, it behooves
that office to make the appropriate budgetary
arrangements toward paying private respondent what is
due her under the premises. This to us is the right
thing to do.”
Concurring in the ruling were Chief Justice Reynato Puno,
Associate Justices Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, Renato
Corona and Adolfo Azcuna. |
