Ex-Quezon governor stopped from taking over disputed property

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered former Quezon Governor Eduardo T. Rodriguez and the Pagbilao Development Corporation (PDC) to honor a court order requiring them to back down from taking over vast tracts of land in the province from its real owners.

In an 11-page decision promulgated March 10, the high court’s Third Division, through Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, granted the petition of Pedro Lukang which sought to reinstate an injunction issued by Lucena City Regional Trial Court  Branch  53 against Rodriguez and PDC.

The disputed property covers 60 hectare of land which includes two popular tourist spots in the area–Kuwebang Lampas and Puting Buhangin.

Lukang took the case to the high court after the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of PDC.

In reversing the appeals court, the high court said that PDC had bought the properties even as the titles had been clearly marked that they are still under litigation.

The annotation of adverse claim and notice of lis pendens on the titles,  the court  explained,  should have cautioned PDC from buying the property and said it served as “a warning that those who acquire an interest in the property do so at their own risk–they gamble on the result of the litigation over it.”

“PDC cannot invoke its being the registered owner to dispossess the present possessors for, precisely, when it bought the properties, it was charged with the knowledge that the ownership and sale of the subject properties by its predecessors-in-interest have been questioned by their co-heirs,” the court added.

PDC had bought the property in 1993 from two heirs of the family patriarch Arsenio Lukang who died in 1976 even while the court has yet to determine the rightful shares of  all of Arsenio’s children and heirs.  One of Arsenio’s son Pedro and the other heirs who were in actual possession of the properties were allegedly violently ejected by PDC, destroyed the structures and started conducting improvements in the lot.

“We urge  the parties concerned to respect the high court’s decision on the matter and voluntary return the property to its previous and rightful occupants and owners”, Marjorie De Castro, the Lukang’s lawyer, said.

Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Diosdado Peralta, Roberto Abad and Mario Victor Leonen concurred.