No summary titling of private lands without just compensation, Devanadera
22 October 2007
Acting Justice Secretary Agnes VST Devanadera has held that there can be no summary titling of private lands as well as those belonging to the local government units without just compensation.
In comments sent to the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights chaired by Senator Francis Escudero, the Department of Justice through the Acting Secretary, said that summary titling cannot be done with respect to property owned by private individuals as well as local government units without just compensation as this would be tantamount to unlawful deprivation of property.
The Department's comments were sought by Escudero relative to Senate Bill No. 167 entitled “Summary Titling of Real Properties Used as Sites for Public Schools”.
Expropriation proceedings should be undertaken if the government wants to acquire ownership or title over the lands in issue. Just compensation is to be computed from the time of “taking” of the property which usually coincides with the commencement of the expropriation proceedings.
Secretary Devanadera emphasized the need to balance the arbitrary exercise of governmental powers and the individual rights of the owners of the lands in issue. She said that any expropriation proceedings should consider five requisites, namely, the necessity of the exercise, the land is private property, “taking” in the constitutional sense, the land is for public use, and payment of just compensation.
The bill filed in the Senate committee failed to pass the fifth requirement, the payment of just compensation, she said. The Secretary opined that it is the right of the land owners to be paid the value of their land for they will be deprived of any beneficial use of their property, even if the purpose of the “taking” is for the public in general. Jurisprudence holds that the exercise of the right of eminent domain, whether directly by the State, or its authorized agents, is necessarily a derogation of private rights, and the rule, according to her, is that this authority must be strictly construed..
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