NPC v. HEIRS OF SANGKAY
656 SCRA 60
G.R. No. 165828
August 24, 2011
TOPIC: Eminent Domain; Just Compensation
FACTS:
National Power Corporation (NPC) undertook the Agus River Hydroelectric Power
Plant Project to generate electricity for Mindanao. It included the
construction of several underground tunnels to be used in diverting the water
flow from the Agus River to the hydroelectric plants.
On 1997, Respondents sued NPC for recovery of
damages of the property and a prayer for just compensation. They alleged
that the tunnel deprived them of the agricultural, commercial, industrial and
residential value of their land; and that their land had also become an unsafe
place for habitation, forcing them and their workers to relocate to safer
grounds.
ISSUE:
Whether the Heirs of Sangkay have the right to just compensation
RULING:
Just compensation is the full and fair equivalent of the property taken from
its owner by the expropriator. It has the objective to recover the value of
property taken in fact by the governmental defendant, even though no formal
exercise of the power of eminent domain has been attempted by the taking
agency.
The underground tunnels impose limitations on
respondents’ use of the property for an indefinite period and deprive them of
its ordinary use. Hence, respondents are clearly entitled to the payment of
just compensation.
Notwithstanding the fact that petitioner only
occupies the sub-terrain portion, it is liable to pay not merely an easement
fee but rather the full compensation for land. It is settled that the taking of
private property for public use, to be compensable, need not be an actual
physical taking or appropriation. This is so because in this case, the nature
of the easement practically deprives the owners of its normal beneficial use. Compensable
taking includes destruction, restriction, diminution, or interruption of the
rights of ownership or of the common and necessary use and enjoyment of the
property in a lawful manner, lessening or destroying its value
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