Alangilan Realty & Development Corporation vs Office of the President

GR 180471, March 26 2010

Facts:
Petitioner (Alangilan Realty & Dev. Corp.) is the owner/developer of a 17.4892
Hec. Land in Brgy. Alangilan and Patay in Batangas City (Alangilan landholding). On
Aug. 7, 1996, it filed an Application and/or Petition for Exclusion/Exemption from
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) Coverage with Municipal Agrarian
Reform Office (MARO) of the Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR). It alleges that the subject
landholding was reserved for residential under Zoning Ordinance (1982 Ordinance) thus
it is not subject to CARP.

Issue:
WON the landholdings are under the jurisdiction of CARP.

Ruling:
Yes. The subject landholding, classified by the Batangas City Zoning Ordinance
of 1982 as Agricultural / Reserved for Residential, was not reclassified from agricultural
to non-agricultural land thus it is still under the jurisdiction for CARP / CARL. The term
reserved for residential simply reflect the intended use of land that it may be used for
future residential purposes and was not reclassified as residential as the phrase
reserved for residential is not a land classification category.

Ocular inspection of MARO, PARO (Provincial Agrarian Reform Office) and RARO
(Regional Agrarian Reform Office) showed that the land was still in use for agricultural
purposes and was planted with mangoes and coconuts at the time of the filing of
application for exemption. Petitioner failed to show that the land was already in
residential use even before June 15, 1988 (effectivity of CARL). Not having converted or
reclassified as residential before June 15, 1988, the land is still classified as Agricultural
and subsequent reclassification as residential-1 in 1994 cannot place the property
outside the ambit of CARP as there was no showing that the DAR Secretary approved
such reclassification.