Dear Atty. Wong , I’ve come across with your edition in this web and I’m searching for the legal advice in fairness to everyone especially for the one who lives as and works to our 1.5 farm hectares in the province of Batangas. This family lives there for more or less 7 yrs. With out our consent as brothers and sister the only consent was from one of my older brother who was this worker’s brother in law, now our both parents passed away 40 days ago and this person sold one of my mom’s pet (pregnant cow) whom he also take care too, just the consent of my brother also, now my older sister got mad to both of them ( him and my bro), and Because of that argument my sister told them to vacate our farm. And this person is asking for 150,000.00, sued my brother who is his brother in law, because we forced them to leave. My sister sued him also in our barangay as they don’t want to leave our property. Besides they sold some harvested with out our consent . And in the presence of the barangay Chairman, my sister offered to pay them P70,000.00 just to leave the premises. But insisting to get paid of P150,000.00 pesos. What legal actions can take against this kind of person? Thank you so much. God Bless us always… Mabuhay ! MT
ANS: If there was no contract between the landowners(your parents) and the occupants of your property for them to take possession of the property , then the owner has the absolute right to eject them. As your parent had just died recently, it follows that your parents were still the owners of the property at the time when your older brother allowed the tenant to stay in the property prior to the death of your parents. As such your older sibling had no authority then to enter into such kind of arrangement with the occupant(s), unless he was duly authorized by the owner(your parents) by way of Special Power of Attorney(SPA) to do and perform such act authorizing your sibling to enter into such kind of arrangement with the said tenant(s).
Now, upon the demise of your parents, their children as their compulsory heirs became the co-owners of the subject property. As co-owners, you have all the right to enjoy the attributes of ownership under the law , including the right to protect it against unauthorized occupants and to eject them.
It’s not clear in your letter, what was really the arrangement and the nature of the activities of the occupants in the land. Is the occupant considered tenant(s) ? Are they doing works related to the planting and harvesting of crops based on sharing arrangement or paid laborers? Selling pregnant cow that does not belong to them, could be considered as qualified theft or estafa depending on the attendant circumstances. Both are felonies or crimes under the Revised Penal Code . You could also initiate criminal complaint against the occupants as your leverage for them to vacate and surrender the possession of the property voluntarily. Criminal case (qualified thief if convicted carries with it at least 8 years imprisonment depending on the value of the stolen property)
If the nature of the occupancy over your property is that of a tenant or paid workers, this could complicate the situation. If they are considered tanants pursuant to the provisions of the law or as paid laborers to till the land, then they are entitled to the so called security of tenure and can only be removed for just and authorized cause(s) under the law.
However, if the nature of the occupants of the land, is neither as a tenant or paid labor, and they are occupying the property as a mere tolerance of the owner(s), and there being no contract authorizing their stay and the use of the property, the owners can validly initiate legal proceeding against the occupant(s) before the court of law.
In certain situation, land owners for the sake of buying peace and in order to just get rid of the problem and avoid legal cost in ejecting them not to mention the inconvenience incident to the filing of the case , just pay them off for good. However, this option is a judgment call on your part.
However, where the occupants are unreasonable, then as new owners, you have all the right to eject them. If they refused to vacate , then bring the case to the Barangay for possible amicable settlement. If the parties cannot agree, then secure a certificate from the barangay that no settlement was reached by the parties and file the case the Municipal or City Court of Batangas, where the property is located. If there is tenancy issue, the case may fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agrarian Reform(DAR).
Looking forward you’ll find the above in order as the “Batas Pinoy Global Community”(BPGC), welcomes you in this corner.
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