G.R. No. 199008 - Separate Opinion

Danilo Almero, Teresita Alagon, Celia Bulaso, Ludy Ramada, Regina Gegremosa, Isidro Lazarte, Thelma Embarque, Felipe Lazarte, Guilerma Lazarte, Dulcesima Benimele V. Heirs of Miguel Pacquing, as represented by Linda Pacquing Fadrilan, G.R. No. 199008, November 19, 2014
♦ Decision, Brion [J]
♦ Dissenting Opinion, Leonen [J]

DANILO ALMERO, TERESITA ALAGON, CELIA BULASO, LUDY RAMADA, REGINA GEGREMOSA, ISIDRO LAZARTE, THELMA EMBARQUE, FELIPE LAZARTE, GUILERMA LAZARTE, DULCESIMA BENIMELE, Petitioners,
vs.
HEIRS OF MIGUEL PACQUING, as represented by LINDA PACQUING FADRILAN, Respondents.

I dissent on two points. First, the Office of the President's February 16, 2011 Decision1 is already final and executory. This court, therefore, may no longer review the Decision.

Second, the property in this case is covered by a homestead patent. Thus, it is exempt from agrarian reform coverage. The heirs of the original homesteader must be given the chance to cultivate their land.

This court may no longer review the final and executory Decision of the Office of the President

Under Rule 43 of the Rules of Court, decisions of the Office of the President are appealed before the Court of Appeals through a Petition for Review raising questions of fact, of law, or mixed questions of fact and law.2 The Appeal must be filed within 15 days from notice of the decision or resolution denying the Motion for Reconsideration as provided in Rule 43, Sections 1 and 4:

Section 1. Scope. - This Rule shall apply to appeals from judgments or final orders of the Court of Tax Appeals and from awards, judgments, final orders or resolutions of or authorized by any quasi judicial agency in the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions. Among these agencies are the Civil Service Commission, Central Board of Assessment Appeals, Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the President, Land Registration Authority, Social Security Commission, Civil Aeronautics Board, Bureau of Patents, Trademarks and Technology Transfer, National Electrification Administration, Energy Regulatory Board, National Telecommunications Commission, Department of Agrarian Reform under Republic Act No. 6657, Government Service Insurance System, Employees Compensation Commission, Agricultural Inventions Board, Insurance Commission, Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, Board of Investments, Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, and voluntary arbitrators authorized by law.

Sec. 4. Period of appeal. The appeal shall be taken within fifteen (15) days from notice of the award, judgment, final order or resolution, or from the date of its last publication, if publication is required by law for its effectivity, or of the denial of petitioner’s motion for new trial or reconsideration duly filed in accordance with the governing law of the court or agency a quo. Only one (1) motion for reconsideration shall be allowed. Upon proper motion and the payment of the full amount of the docket fee before the expiration of the reglementary period, the Court of Appeals may grant an additional period of fifteen (15) days only within which to file the petition for review. No further extension shall be granted except for the most compelling reason and in no case to exceed fifteen (15) days.

Petitioners Danilo Almero, Teresita Alagon, Celia Bulaso, Ludy Ramada, Regina Gegremosa, Isidro Lazarte, Thelma Embarque, Felipe Lazarte, Guilerma Lazarte, and Dulcesima Benimele (Almero, et al.) availed themselves of the wrong remedy against the Office of the President’s Decision. Instead of directly appealing before this court, Almero, et al. should have filed a Petition for Review before the Court of Appeals under Rule 43.

It is true that a Petition for Review on Certiorari may be directly filed before this court if the Petition raises pure questions of law.3 However, even assuming that Almero, et al.’s Petition raises pure questions of law, this court should have dismissed outright Almero, et al.’s Petition for having been filed out of time. Under Rule 45, Section 2 of the Rules of Court, a Petition for Review on Certiorari must be filed within 15 days from notice of the assailed Decision or Resolution:

Sec. 2. Time for filing; extension.– The petition shall be filed within fifteen (15) days from notice of the judgment orfinal order or resolution appealed from, or of the denial of the petitioner’s motion for new trial or reconsideration filed in due time after notice of the judgment. On motion duly filed and served, withfull payment of the docket and other lawful fees and the deposit for costs before the expiration of the reglementary period, the Supreme Court may for justifiable reasons grant an extension of thirty (30) days only within which to file the petition.

Almero, et al. had notice of the Office of the President’s Resolution denying their Motion for Reconsideration on September 29, 2011. Thus, Almero, et al. had until October 14, 2011 tofile their Appeal. Yet, Almero, et al. appealed before this court only on November 14, 2011, which was beyond 15 days from their notice of the Resolution denying their Motion for Reconsideration. Their filing of the Petition, therefore, did not toll the reglementary period for filing an appeal. The Decision of the Office of the President has become final and executory as of October 15, 2011, and this court may no longer review the Decision.

The property is exempt from coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Agrarian reform is the "redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farm workers who are landless."4 It includes not only the physical redistribution of lands but also other alternative arrangements, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the redistribution of shares of stock all aimed to lift the economic status of the property’s farmer-beneficiaries.5

As a general rule, all agricultural lands, whether public or private, are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.6 An agricultural land refers to land devotedto any of the following agricultural activities: cultivation of the soil, planting of crops, growing of fruit trees, raising of livestock, poultry or fish, including the harvesting of such farm products, and other farm activities and practices performed by a farmer in conjunction with such farming operations done by persons whether natural or juridical.7 Section 4 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law enumerates properties covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program:

SEC. 4. Scope. – The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 shall cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands as provided in Proclamation No. 131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

More specifically, the following lands are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program:

As for the properties exempt from agrarian reform coverage, Section 10 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law provides:

SEC. 10. Exemptions and Exclusions. – Lands actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for parks, wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds, watersheds and mangroves, national defense, school sites and campuses including experimental farm stations operated by public or private schools for educational purposes, seeds and seedlings research and pilot production centers, church sites and convents appurtenant thereto, mosque sites and Islamic centers appurtenant thereto, communal burial grounds and cemeteries, penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by the inmates, government and private research and quarantine centers and all lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and over, except those already developed shall be exempt fromthe coverage of this Act.

In the present case, the majority ruled that the property of the Heirs of Manuel Pacquing is covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, the property being an agricultural land.

I disagree with the majority. The property in this case is exempt from agrarian reform, having been granted to Manuel Pacquing through a homestead patent.

Although a social justice measure,8 agrarian reform is subject to limitations. Under Article XIII, Section 6 of the Constitution, distribution of lands through agrarian reform is "subjectto prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands":

Section 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of the public domain under lease or concession suitable to agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands. (Emphasis supplied)

Chapter IV of Commonwealth Act No. 141 or the Public Land Act governs the grant of homestead patents. Under Section 12 of the law, an applicant "may enter a homestead of not exceeding twenty-four hectares of agricultural land of the public domain." A homestead patent or title to the homestead is issued only if the applicant has improved and cultivated at least one-fifth of the agricultural land applied for. Section 14 of the Public Land Act provides:

Sec. 14. No certificate shall be given or patent issued for the land applied for until at least one-fifth of the land has been improved and cultivated. The period within which the land shall be cultivated shall not be less than one nor more than five years from and after the date of the approval of the application. The applicant shall, within the said period, notify the Director of Lands as soon as he is ready to acquire the title. If at the date of such notice, the applicant shall prove to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands, that hehas resided continuously for at least one year in the municipality in which the land is located, or in a municipality adjacent to the same, and has cultivated at least one-fifth of the land continuously since the approval of the application, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated or encumbered, and that he has complied with all the requirements of this Act,then upon the payment of five pesos, as final fee, he shall be entitled to a patent.

The state grants homestead rights "to encourage residence upon and the cultivation and improvement of [agricultural lands] of the public domain."9 In Jocson v. Soriano,10 this court further explained the purpose of granting and protecting homesteads:

[The object of homestead laws] is to provide a home for each citizen of the Government, where his family may shelter and live beyond the reach of financial misfortune, and to inculcate in individuals those feelings of independence which are essential to the maintenance of free institutions. Furthermore, the state itself is concerned that the citizens shall not be divested of a means of support, and reduced to pauperism.

The conservation of a family home is the purpose of homestead laws. The policy of the state is to foster families as the factors of society, and thus promote general welfare. The sentiment of patriotism and independence, the spirit offree citizenship, the feeling of interest in public affairs, are cultivated and fostered more readily when the citizen lives permanently in his own home, witha sense of its protection and durability.11 (Citations omitted)

In 1982, this court had the opportunity to resolve the issue of who has the better right to a homestead — the homesteader or the tenant tilling the land. In Patricio v. Bayog,12 this court said that "the more paramount and superior policy consideration is to uphold the right of the homesteader and his heirs to own and cultivate personally the land acquired from the State without being encumbered by tenancy relations."13

In Alita v. Court of Appeals,14 this court categorically ruled that lands obtained through homestead patents are not covered by the agrarian reform program, the rights of homesteaders being "superior"15 to the rights of tenants. This court said that the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 72, Series of 1972, then governing agrarian reform, "cannot be invoked to defeat the very purpose of the enactment of the Public Land Act or Commonwealth Act No. 141."16 Citing Patricio:

The Homestead Act has been enacted for the welfare and protection of the poor. The law gives a needy citizen a piece of land where he may build a modest house for himself and family and plant what is necessary for subsistence and for the satisfaction of life’s other needs. The right of the citizens to their homes and to the things necessary for their subsistence is as vital as the right to life itself. They have a right to live with a certain degree of comfort as become human beings, and the State which looks after the welfare of the people’s happiness is under a duty to safeguard the satisfaction of this vital right.17

In ruling for the homesteader in Alita,this court relied on Article XIII, Section 6 of the Constitution. This court went on to state that even the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 recognizes the "inapplicability of [agrarian reform laws] to lands covered by homestead patents."18 This court referred to the proviso in Section 6 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law:

Section 6. Retention Limits. – Except as otherwise provided in this Act, no person may own or retain, directly or indirectly, any public or private agricultural land, the size of which shall vary according to factors governing a viable family-size farm, such as commodity produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) created hereunder, but in no case shall retention by the landowner exceed five (5) hectares. Three (3) hectares may be awarded to each child of the landowner, subject to the following qualifications: (1) that he is at least fifteen (15) years of age; and (2) that he is actually tilling the land or directly managing the farm: Provided, That landowners whose lands have been covered by Presidential Decree No. 27 shall be allowed to keep the area originally retained by them thereunder: Provided further, That original homestead grantees or their direct compulsory heirs who still own the original homestead at the time of the approval of this Act shall retain the sameareas as long as they continue to cultivate said homestead.(Emphasis supplied)

However, contrary to the Alitaruling, this court used Section 6 as legal basis to rule that homesteads are covered by the agrarian reform program. In the 2001 case of Paris v. Alfeche,19 the state granted Florencia Paris a homestead patent over a parcel of land in Paitan, Quezon, Bukidnon. Emancipation patents were subsequently issued tothe tenants tilling her property, depriving Paris and her children of their right to personally cultivate their property. To recover her property, Paris filed an application to retain at least five (5) hectares of her property in Bukidnon. Since her property was covered by a homestead patent, Paris argued, among others, that she and her children have the better right to cultivate their land as this court ruled in Patricio and Alita.

The Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudicator ruled in favor of Paris and cancelled the emancipation patents issued to the tenants. On appeal, however, the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board reversed the Adjudicator and declared the tenants as "full owners of the land they till."20 The Court of Appeals agreed with the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board and affirmed its Decision.

This court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ Decision, ruling that "parcels of land . . . covered by homestead patents [are] not automatically exempt . . . from the operation of land reform." Section 6 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law allows homesteaders to retain their land "as long as they continue to cultivate [their] homestead."21 Therefore, "it is the fact of continued cultivation by the original grantees or their direct compulsory heirs that shall exempt their lands from land reform coverage."22

Finding that Paris and her children were not personally cultivating their homestead, this court denied Paris’ application for retention.

On Paris’ contention that she and her children, as homesteaders, had the better right to cultivate their land, this court held that Patricio and Alita did not apply to Paris’ case. The homesteaders in Patricioand Alita showed their intention to continue cultivating their homesteads.23 Thus, this court allowed the homesteaders to retain their properties in Patricio and Alita.

Unlike the homesteaders in Patricio and Alita, this court found that Paris and her children never personally cultivated their homestead, and they never expressed their intention to do so. For these reasons, this court denied Paris’ application for retention and surmised that Paris and her children would "undoubtedly continue to be absentee landlords":24

[T]he rulings in both Patricio and Alita, which are in line with the state objective of fostering owner cultivatorship and of abolishing tenancy, would be inapplicable to the present case. Since petitioner and her heirs have evinced no intention of actually cultivating the lands or even directly managing the farm, they will undoubtedly continue to be absentee landlords. Therefore, to blindly and indiscriminately apply the ruling in the cited cases would be tantamount to encouraging feudalistic practices and going against the very essence of agrarian reform. This we cannot sanction.25 (Citation omitted)

Despite this court’s ruling in Paris, I maintain that the property should be exempt from agrarian reform.1âwphi1 As this court held in Patricio and Alita, the right of tenants to own the land they till through agrarian reform is subject to the right of homesteaders to personally cultivate their property. This right of homesteaders is guaranteed by no less than the Constitution.

In providing that homesteaders may retain their land "as long as they continue to cultivate said homestead," Section 6 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is unconstitutional. The Constitution does not require homesteaders to show their intention to cultivate their land before their properties are exempted from agrarian reform coverage. Under the law, homestead patents are granted only if the applicants have proven to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands that they have entered, improved, and cultivated the land applied for.26 It must therefore be presumed that grantees of homestead patents cultivate their land.

In any case, the Heirs of Manuel Pacquing must be allowed to retain their homestead, similar to the homesteaders in Patricio and Alita. As this court declared in Paris, homesteaders are allowed to retain their property if they show their intention to continue cultivating their property.27 As the Office of the President found, the Heirs of Manuel Pacquing have shown their intention to continue cultivating their property by protesting the issuance of certificates of land ownership qward to Almero, et al. The Heirs of Manuel Pacquing "should be given the chance to exercise their rights as heirs of the homestead grantee to continue to cultivate the homestead lots either personally or directly managing the farm pursuant to the pronouncement in the Paris case."28

In the alternative, this case must be elevated to the court en bane considering that the constitutionality of Section 6 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is at issue in this case. Rule 2, Section 3(a) of the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court provides:

Section 3. Court en bane matters and cases. - The Court en bane shall act on the following matters and cases:

(a) cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or executive agreement, law, executive order, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation is in question[.]

IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, I vote to DENY the Petition for Review on Certiorari. The Office of the President's DeCision dated February 16, 2011 must be AFFIRMED.