SPOUSES BUOT VS.

NATIONAL TRANSMISSION CORPORATION 

G.R. NO. 240720
NOVEMBER 17, 2021.
INTING, J.

FACTS

Spouses Buot are owners of the subject property and was originally registered
pursuant to a grant by free patent, carrying a general reservation for all conditions, public
easements and servitudes are recognized and prescribed by law.

The National Transmission Corporation initiated an expropriation proceedings against

petitioner spouses for the acquisition of the subject property and the enforcement of an
easement of right of way. The petitioner spouses opposed the proceedings and demanded
compensation for the entire lot because there was already an existing transmission line
situated in their property. 

The RTC ordered Transco to pay the spouses an initial P5.1 million. A writ of
possession was subsequently issued after the spouses received compensation for the entire
lot. The RTC rendered a decision granting the expropriation and increased the award to the
spouses to P8.1 million. 

The CA ordered the remanding of the case to the RTC for the proper determination of
the actual area for expropriation. As regards the issue of a legal easement, the appellate court
held that the right of way should not exceed 60 meters in width on lands granted by patent.

ISSUE & RULING

WHETHER OR NOT THE TRANSMISSION LINES ARE SUBJECT TO A

LEGAL EASEMENT 

Yes. Under Section 112 of CA No. 141, or The Public Land Act, as amended, lands
granted by patent shall be subject to a legal easement of right-of-way not exceeding 60
meters in width, which may be enforced by the government free of charge, save for the value
of the existing improvements thereon, for its infrastructure projects such as public highways,
irrigation ditches, aqueducts, and other similar works. A patent, by its very definition, is a
governmental grant of a right, a privilege, or authority." Here, the government, through the
issuance of a free patent, conveyed a grant of public land to Spouses Buot.