Expropriation

The payment of just compensation for private property taken for public use is guaranteed no less by our Constitution and is included in the Bill of Rights. As such, no legislative enactments or executive issuances can prevent the courts from determining whether the right of the property owners to just compensation has been violated.  It is a judicial function that cannot “be usurped by any other branch or official of the government.” Thus, we have consistently ruled that statutes and executive issuances fixing or providing for the method of computing just compensation are not binding on courts and, at best, are treated as mere guidelines in ascertaining the amount thereof.

Notably, in all these cases, Napocor likewise argued that it is liable to pay the property owners for the easement of right-of-way only  and not the full market value of the land traversed by its transmission lines.  But we uniformly held in those cases that since  the high-tension electric current passing through the transmission lines will perpetually deprive the property owners of the normal use of their land, it is only just and proper to require Napocor to recompense them for the full market value of their property. 

In Republic v. Santos, we ruled that a commissioners’ land valuation which is not based on any documentary evidence is manifestly hearsay and should be disregarded by the court (National Power Corporation Vs. Spouses Rodolfo Zabala and Lilia Baylon, G.R. No. 173520. January 30, 2013).