National Power Corporation V. Hon. Sylva G. Aguirre Paderanga, 464 Scra 481 (2005)

CASE DIGEST

Facts:

The Court of Appeals Decision dated June 6, 2002, as well as its Resolution dated August 30, 2002, affirming the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Danao City, Branch 25 which granted the complaint for expropriation filed by herein petitioner National Power Corporation (NPC) against herein respondents "Petrona Dilao et al." are being assailed in the present Petition for Review on Certiorari. To implement its Leyte-Cebu Interconnection Project, the NPC filed on March 19, 1996 before the Regional Trial Court of Danao City a complaint for expropriation of parcels of land situated at Baring and Cantumog, Carmen, Cebu against Dilao and siblings, and Enriquez. The complaint covers 7,281 square meters of land co-owned Petrona O. Dilao (Dilao) and siblings, and 7,879 square meters of land owned by Estefania Enriquez (Enriquez). A day after the complaint was filed or on March 20, 1996, NPC filed an urgent ex parte motion for the issuance of writ of possession of the lands. Dilao filed her Answer with Counterclaim on April 19, 1996. Enriquez did not. On May 9, 1996, Branch 25 of the RTC Danao, issued an Order granting NPC’s motion for the issuance of writ of possession. It then appointed a Board of Commissioners to determine just compensation.

Issue: Whether or not the just compensation for right-of-way easement being expropriated is proper.

Ruling:

There are two stages in every act of expropriation. The first is concerned with the determination of the authority of the plaintiff to exercise the power of eminent domain and the propriety of its exercise in the context of the facts involved in the suit. The second phase of the eminent domain action is concerned with the determination by the court of “the just compensation for the property sought to be taken.” The order fixing the just compensation on the basis of the evidence before the commissioners would be final. In the case at bar, the easement of right-of-way is definitely a taking under the power of eminent domain. Considering the nature and effect of the installation of the transmission lines, the limitation imposed by NPC against the use of the land for an indefinite period deprives private respondents of its ordinary use. It cannot be opposed that NPC’s complaint merely involves a simple case of mere passage of transmission lines over Dilao et. Al’s sproperty. Aside from the actual damage done to the property transversed by the transmission lines, the agricultural and economic activity normally undertaken on the entire property is unquestionably restricted and perpetually hampered as the environment is made dangerous to the occupant’s life and limb.

The appeal sought by NPC does not stand on both procedural and substantive grounds. The just compensation recommended, which was approved by the trial court, to be just and reasonable compensation for the expropriated property of Dilao and her siblings.