LAUSAN AYOG, ET.AL., vs. JUDGE VICENTE N.

CUSI
G.R. No. L-46729
November 19, 1982

FACTS:

On January 21, 1953, the Director of Lands, after bidding, awarded to

Bian Development Co., Inc. a parcel of land with an area of about two hundred
fifty hectares. The occupants of said land, herein petitioners, were ordered to
vacate the same. Upon the refusal of the occupants of the said, the corporation
filed an ejectment suit. After an investigation, the Director of Lands found out
that the occupants entered the land only after it was awarded to the
corporation. Thus, they could not be regarded as bona fide occupants. On July
18, 1961, the corporation fully paid the purchase price for the land. More than
thirteen years later, the Sales Patent was issued to the corporation with a
reduced area of 175.3 hectares.
The petitioners contested that the adoption of the Constitution which
took effect on January 17, 1973, was a supervening fact which render it legally
impossible to execute the trial courts judgment of awarding the land in
question to the corporation. They invoked the constitutional prohibition, already
mentioned, that "no private corporation or association may hold alienable lands
of the public domain except by lease not to exceed one thousand hectares in
area."
The Director of Lands pointed out that the corporation had complied with
the said requirements long before the effectivity of the Constitution and that
the applicant had acquired a vested right to its issuance.

ISSUE:

Whether the 1973 Constitution is an obstacle to the implementation of

the trial courts 1964 judgment ejecting the petitioners.

RULING:

NO; The Constitutional prohibition has no retroactive application to the

sales application of Binan Development Co., Inc. because it had already
acquired a vested right to the land applied at the time the 1973 Constitution
took effect. Moreover, the corporations compliance with the requirements of
the Public Land Law for the issuance of a patent had the effect of segregating
the said land from the public domain.

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