Cebu wins case of submerged land
SWAMPLAND A resident of Naga City points to the mangrove forest, which is part of the Balili property purchased by the Cebu provincial government. LITO TECSON/CEBU DAILY NEWS
CEBU CITY, Philippines—A Regional Trial Court (RTC) has ordered a family here to return about P37.8 million that was paid by Cebu province for 9.8 hectares of land that turned out to be underwater.
In a decision released on Wednesday, Judge Raphael Yrastorza of RTC Branch 14 said the Balili family was not entitled to receive the amount because the property should not have been sold in the first place.
“There is no legal right to receive it, considering that the areas sold to plaintiffs (Cebu province) are inalienable and indisposable part of public domain, hence, not subject to the commerce of man,” Yrastoza said.
The amount ordered to be returned had already been distributed to Amparo Balili, 87-year-old widow of Luis Balili, and their four children in 2010, said lawyer Romeo Balili, executor of the Balili Estate. “There is no more money (left in the bank); not even a single centavo,” he said.
In December 2010, Judge Ester Veloso of RTC Branch 5, who conducted a probate or intestate proceedings to administer the estate of the late Luis Balili, gave the go-signal to distribute part of the sales proceeds to the declared heirs.
But she told the estate’s executor to make sure that P37.8 million would be left in the bank pending resolution of the Capitol’s demand for a refund.
Romeo Balili later reported to the court that Amparo had withdrawn about P44.48 million without his knowledge.
Lawyer Caesar Tabotabo, counsel of Amparo Balili, said a motion for reconsideration would be filed in court.
“He (Yrastorza) is asking my client to return the money representing the submerged lots. But nowhere in the decision that instructed the province to return the lot titles,” he added.
Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s second district told the Inquirer that the ruling echoed what she had been trying to explain regarding the province’s purchase of the property.
“Judge Yrastorza has quoted the law. Amid all the brouhaha and unfounded accusations against me, just look at the facts of the case. From the very start, all I wanted is to protect the interest of the province,” she said.
Garcia was Cebu governor in 2008 when the province bought from the Balilis 24.9 hectares of land in Barangay Tinaan, Naga town, for P98.9 million. Environmentalists, however, questioned the deal, forcing the province to conduct a post-purchase geodetic survey which showed that 8 hectares were submerged in seawater and 1.4 hectares were mangroves.
A bigger area of 20.2 hectares is classified as timberland or public land not subject to sale based on a survey by Department of Environment and Natural Resources survey.
The province filed a civil case to recover the portion of the property that was not supposed to be sold.
Garcia, however, was charged with graft along with five former Capitol officials, and Romeo and Amparo Balili before the Sandiganbayan for the alleged anomalous purchase of the property.
In his ruling, Judge Yrastorza ruled that the Balili family should return P37,810,400 paid for the submerged portion of the seaside property.
“It is only simple justice, therefore, that the defendants should return what plaintiffs claimed, otherwise, it would be an injustice to allow defendants to be unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the plaintiff,” he said.
The judge also said Garcia should not be blamed for buying the submerged lots.
“The principles under our Torrens system still holds true: A buyer of a registered land need only to rely upon the title of a registered land and has no obligation to look beyond such title,” he said.
Yrastorza said a mere ocular inspection of the Balili lot “by the naked eyes will never show that the submerged portions, as well as the mangrove areas, were included in the sale of the properties.”
The Balili property is covered by a Torrens title which was issued as early as 1977.
