National Housing Authority v Allarde
Facts:
Private respondent Rufino Mateo had
lived in the disputed lots since his birth in 1928. In 1959, he started farming
and working on a six-hectare portion of said lots, after the death of his
father who had cultivated a thirteen-hectare portion of the same lots. On
September 1, 1983, the National Housing Authority notified the respondent
spouses of the scheduled development of the Tala Estate including the lots in
question, warning them that it would not be responsible for any damage which
may be caused to the crops planted on the said lots. In 1989, private
respondent Rufino Mateo filed with the Department of Agrarian Reform a petition
for the award to them of subject disputed lots under the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP). In January 1992, petitioner caused the bulldozing of the
ricefields of private respondents, damaging the dikes and irrigations thereon,
in the process. On March 18, 1992, the respondent spouses, relying on their
claim that subject lots are agricultural land within the coverage of the CARP,
brought before the respondent Regional Trial Court a complaint for damages with
prayer for a writ of preliminary injunction, to enjoin the petitioner from
bulldozing further and making constructions on the lots under controversy.
Petitioner contended that the said lots which were previously reserved by
Proclamation No. 843 for housing and resettlement purposes are not covered by
the CARP as they are not agricultural lands within the definition and
contemplation of Section 3 (c) of R. A. No. 6657. The RTC issued the writ.
Issue:
Whether or not the disputed land is
covered by CARP
Held:
Lands reserved for, or converted to,
non-agricultural uses by government agencies other than the Department of
Agrarian Reform, prior to the effectivity of Republic Act No. 6657 are not
considered and treated as agricultural lands and therefore, outside the ambit
of said law. Thus, since as early as April 26, 1971, the Tala Estate was
reserved, inter alia under Presidential Proclamation No. 843, for the housing
program of the National Housing Authority, the same has been categorized as not
being devoted to the agricultural activity contemplated by Section 3 (c) of
R.A. No. 6657, and is, therefore, outside the coverage of the CARL.
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