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Thursday, January 22, 2004
MCIAA seeks recon on airport lot ruling
By Giovannie A. Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MORE lots in the old Lahug airport are being contested in court. But none of these court battles will affect areas occupied by the Waterfront Hotel, The Village and Asiatown IT Park.
So said Sigfredo Dublin, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) legal chief.
He also said yesterday the Office of the Solicitor General has filed a motion to reconsider the Supreme Court (SC) ruling, which allowed the heirs of Timoteo Moreno and Maria Rotea to buy back more than five hectares of prime property in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
Dublin is hopeful that the High Court will modify its ruling on the Moreno-Rotea case, which puts the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 and its regional equipment services office at risk.
“That decision is still not final and executory. And we have already won in some suits,” he said.
Dublin said that some lots near the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center and the Villa Amores area, both in Barangay Apas, are being disputed in court.
Lost land
Dublin did not elaborate on the status of the cases, except to say that this is the first time the
MCIAA lost.
The solicitor-general’s office in Manila has reportedly asked the SC to reconsider its ruling on the Moreno-Rotea case, citing the Chiongbian case.
The SC earlier denied the Chiongbian family the right to repurchase their lots, which were expropriated simultaneously with that of the Moreno and Rotea families in the early 1950s.
In the Chiongbian case, the SC ruled that the family can no longer buy back their property, even when they claimed that they had a written agreement to repurchase these upon closure of the Lahug airport.
However, the terms of judgment by the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Cebu clearly stated that the title granted to the forerunners of MCIAA are in fee simple.
Under the principle of fee simple, the original owners of an expropriated property can no longer buy their properties back, even if the property is used for purposes other than those originally intended.
As airport
Dublin said they are still checking the extent of the areas affected by the SC decision on the Moreno-Rotea case.
He is certain, though, that these excluded areas occupied by the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, which is also leasing the property on a long-term basis, The Village and the IT Park.
The lease on the property being occupied by the DPWH and its allied offices is set to expire in 2008, he added.
Associate Justice Josue Bellosillo earlier allowed the heirs of Timoteo Moreno and Maria Rotea to buy back the expropriated properties, after finding that the CFI decision in 1961 did not categorically say the title given to the government was in fee simple.
Bellosillo pointed out that the CFI, which heard the petition for expropriation, premised its decision on the ground that the Lahug airport will continue to operate.
The closure of the airport, he added, will necessarily result to an equitable adjustment in the rights of the government, now represented by the MCIAA, and its original owners.
Associate Justice Leo-nardo Quisumbing, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Romeo Callejo Sr. and Dante Tinga concurred with his decision on the issue.
(January 22, 2004 issue)
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