SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 195217, January 13, 2021
NATIONAL POWER CORPORATION (NPC), Petitioner, v. SPOUSES RUFO AND TOMASA LLORIN, REPRESENTED BY THEIR ATTORNEY-IN-FACT, CORAZON CANDELARIA, Respondents.
D E C I S I O N
LAZARO-JAVIER, J.:
The Case
WHEREFORE, premises considered, decision is hereby rendered in favor of plaintiff Sps. Rufo Llorin and Tomasa Tijam-Liorin, ordering defendant NAPOCOR
1. To vacate the subject properties and turn over it [sic] possession to plaintiff;
2. To pay to plaintiff monthly rental of Php5,000.00 per month as rental for the use of land from September, 2006 until the land is finally vacated;
3. To pay to plaintiff the amount of Php20,000.00 as attorney's fee plus cost.
SO ORDERED.
WHEREFORE, the petition is DISMISSED. Accordingly, the assailed Decision dated December 7, 2007 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 26, Naga City, which affirmed the Decision dated June 19, 2007 of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Branch 1, Naga City in Civil Case No. 12712 is hereby AFFIRMED.chanroblesvirtuallawlibraryThe Court of Appeals ruled that the allegations in the complaint were sufficient for unlawful detainer to prosper. The right of Spouses Llorin to recover possession of their property cannot be defeated by laches or prescription. The non-inclusion of TRANSCO in the case was not fatal considering that the parties, during the pre-trial, had already agreed that the ownership of the transmission lines remained with NPC and TRANSCO is its operator.
SO ORDERED.
SEC. 8. Creation of the National Transmission Company. There is hereby created a National Transmission Corporation, hereinafter referred to as TRANSCO, which shall assume the electrical transmission function of the National Power Corporation (NPC), and have the power and functions hereinafter granted. The TRANSCO shall assume the authority and responsibility of NPC for the planning, construction and centralized operation and maintenance of its high voltage transmission facilities, including grid interconnections and ancillary services.As ordained in the leading case of National Transmission Corp. v. Bermuda Development Corp.,11 for reasons of public policy and public necessity, as well as equitable estoppel, the remedy of unlawful detainer is unavailing to compel a public utility to vacate subject property. "The proper recourse is for the ejectment court: (1) to dismiss the case without prejudice to the landowner filing the proper action for recovery of just compensation and consequential damages; or (2) to dismiss the case and direct the public utility corporation to institute the proper expropriation or condemnation proceedings and to pay the just compensation and consequential damages assessed therein; or (3) to continue with the case as if it were an expropriation case and determine the just compensation and consequential damages pursuant to Rule 67 (Expropriation) of the Rules of Court, if the ejectment court has jurisdiction over the value of the subject land." Thus:cralawred
Within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act, the transmission and subtransmission facilities of NPC and all other assets related to transmission operations, including the nationwide franchise of NPC for the operation of the transmission system and the grid, shall be transferred to the TRANSCO. The TRANSCO shall be wholly owned by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM Corp.).
The subtransmission functions and assets shall be segregated from the transmission functions, assets and liabilities for transparency and disposal: Provided, That the subtransmission assets shall be operated and maintained by TRANSCO until their disposal to qualified distribution utilities which are in a position to take over the responsibility for operating, maintaining, upgrading, and expanding said assets. All transmission and subtransmission related liabilities of NPC shall be transferred to and assumed by the PSALM Corp.
TRANSCO shall negotiate with and thereafter transfer such functions, assets, and associated liabilities to the qualified distribution utility or utilities connected to such subtransmission facilities not later than two (2) years from the effectivity of this Act or the start of open access, whichever comes earlier: x x x.
Thus, it is well-settled that a case filed by a landowner for recovery of possession or ejectment against a public utility corporation, endowed with the power of eminent domain, which has occupied the land belonging to the former in the interest of public service without prior acquisition of title thereto by negotiated purchase or expropriation proceedings, will not prosper. Any action to compel the public utility corporation to vacate such property is unavailing since the landowner is denied the remedies of ejectment and injunction for reasons of public policy and public necessity as well as equitable estoppel. The proper recourse is for the ejectment court: (1) to dismiss the case without prejudice to the landowner filing the proper action for recovery of just compensation and consequential damages; or (2) to dismiss the case and direct the public utility corporation to institute the proper expropriation or condemnation proceedings and to pay the just compensation and consequential damages assessed therein; or (3) to continue with the case as if it were an expropriation case and determine the just compensation and consequential damages pursuant to Rule 67 (Expropriation) of the Rules of Court, if the ejectment court has jurisdiction over the value of the subject land. (Emphasis supplied)Here, the MTCC therefore should have dismissed the case without prejudice to the landowner's filing of the proper action for just compensation and consequential damages; or directed the NPC (TRANSCO) to initiate the proper expropriation proceedings and to pay just compensation and consequential damages. Notably, the considerable length of time that elapsed before Spouses Llorin or their predecessors-in-interest questioned the government's so called unconsented entry into the property and installation of the 69 kV Naga-Tinambac power transmission lines, sans expropriation proceedings, constitutes a waiver of their right to gain back its possession.12 To repeat, the remedy left for them is to claim for just compensation.
Endnotes:
* Designated as additional member per S.O. No. 2797 dated November 5, 2020.
1 Represented by the Office of the Solicitor General through Associate Solicitor General Reynaldo L. Saludares and Associate Solicitor Neil E. Lorenzo.
2 Penned by Associate Justice Magdangal M. De Leon and concurred in by Associate Justices Josefina Guevara-Salonga and Normandie B. Pizarro, rollo, pp. 65-75.
3Id. at 76-77.
4Id. at 176-177.
5 An Act Ordaining Reforms In The Electric Power Industry, Amending For The Purpose Certain Laws And For Other Purposes.
6Id. at 185-190.
7Id. at 230-233.
8Id. at 234-240.
9 Penned by Associate Justice Magdangal M. De Leon and concurred in by Associate Justices Josefina Guevara-Salonga and Normandie B. Pizarro, id. at 65-75.
10Id.at 76-77.
11 G.R. No. 214782, April 3, 2019.
12Eusebio v. Luis, 618 Phil. 586, 595-596 (2009).