Engineers of the City of Manila

City of Manila

Dear, Engineers of the City of Manila

This has reference to your letter requesting for the Department’s legal
opinion on the expropriation of the parcels of land located at Delpan, Tondo.

To give background, The City of Manila intends to construct a new

building over a lot in Delpan, Tondo, which will be used to house informal
settlers in Baseco Compound. In initiating the project, The City of Manila needs
two parcels of lands: (1) a two-hectare land covered by TCT No. T- 12345 which
was mortgaged by spouses Juan and Juanita Bonanza to the bank of Philippine
islands under entry number 03121991. There is also an uncanceled encumbrance
over the TCT No. T-12345 with entry number 19911293 in favor of Jose Protacio
executed in January 2000 when the spouses obtained a loan from him, which
was then paid on the same year. It was found out that Jose Protacio died in May
2015 and was survived by his heirs, Andres Protacio, Emilio Protacio, and
Gabriela Protacio.

As to the three-hectare land covered by TCT No. T-54321 registered in the

name of Reynaldo Dela Cruz, appears that the same has been mortgaged to
Security Bank under entry number 19910312, it was further found out that the
land was already sold to Megawide Corporation, although the title of Reynaldo
Dela Cruz has not yet been cancelled and transferred, additionally, engineers of
the City of Manila made and ocular inspection of the properties for the project,
they found out that (2) families, were occupying the portions of lands covered by
TCT Nos. T-12345 and T-5432, these are the families of Lilia Bahing and Lilo
Morano.

Confused as to whom they will make the letter-offer, the Engineers of the
City of Manila sent everyone a letter-offer for the purchase of land, which was
then rejected by the concerned persons. In response Legal Department
recommended the filing of an expropriation complaint in order to take the
properties. However, the zonal valuation of the lands in Delpan, Tondo is
outdated, considering the requirement under the law that the basis of zonal
valuation should be the most recent one, some of the legal staff in the Legal
Department are unsure as to whether there is a need to include the Bureau of
Internal Revenue as party to the looming expropriation case.
Engineers of the City of Manila is hereby requesting for the Department’s
legal opinion on the following questions of law:
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 i. To whom shall they make the letter-offer for the expropriation of the
land
ii. Is there a need to include the Bureau of Internal Revenue as party to
the expropriation case?

To answer the question, to whom shall they make a letter-offer for the
expropriation of land. In the case of Republic of the Philippines vs. MCFC1, the
Court in the said case has ruled:
“The defendants in an expropriation case are not limited to the
owners of the property condemned. They include all other
persons owning, occupying or claiming to own the property.
When [property] is taken by eminent domain, the owner x x x
is not necessarily the only person who is entitled to
compensation. In the American jurisdiction, the term ‘owner’
when employed in statutes relating to eminent domain to
designate the persons who are to be made parties to the
proceeding, refer, as is the rule in respect of those entitled to
compensation, to all those who have lawful interest in the
property to be condemned, including a mortgagee, a lessee
and a vendee in possession under an executory contract. Every
person having an estate or interest at law or in equity in the
land taken is entitled to share in the award.”
From the said ruling, it can be concluded that the letter-offer should then
be filed to the parties of interest including, Juan and Juanita Bonanza, the
families of Lilia Bahing and Lilo Morano, heirs of Protacio and the banks to
which the land was mortgaged. Since the parties are involved to the interest
therein, they shall join as defendants being the persons who are owning, claiming
to own, or occupying2 the parcel of land located at Delpan, Tondo.

For the second inquiry, since the zonal value is outdated, the BIR is hereby
mandated, within the period of sixty (60) days from the date of filing of the
expropriation case, to conduct a zonal valuation of the area based on the land
classification done by the city or municipal assessor.3. We could then presume
that the BIR would then be included as a party to the expropriation case for the
zonal valuation of the parcel of land located at Delpan, Tondo.

1
Republic of the Philippines v. MCFC, G.R. No. 170375, July 12, 2005 available at
https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2010/jul2010/gr_170375_2010.html (last visited September 6,
2021)
2 Rules of court, (1997)
3
Sec. 6, par. c of R.A. no. 10752

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We hope that we have addressed your concern sufficiently.
Thank you.
Very truly yours,

Earl Lloyd M. Vargas

Legal staff

Chloe Dennise Lagasca

Legal staff