FILSTREAM INTERNATIONAL VS COURT OF APPEALS

Facts:

Filstream filed ejectment suit before MTC against occupants on the grounds of termination of contact
and non-payment of rentals. MTC decided in favor of Filstream. This was appealed in RTC and CA and
both upheld existing decision. During the pendency of ejectment proceedings, City of Manila approved
Ordinance 7813 authorizing Mayor Lim to initiate the acquisition by negotiation, expropriation,
purchase, or other legal means certain parcels of land that covers properties of Filstream.

City of Manila filed complaint for eminent domain to expropriate Filstream properties. Filstream filed a
motion to dismiss the complaint for eminent domain as well as a motion to quash the writ of possession
on the ground of no valid cause of action, the petition does not satisfy the requirements of public use
and maneuver to circumvent the ejectment suit, violation of the constitutional guarantee against non-
impairment, price offered was too low violating just compensation. RTC denied the petition and
declared the property condemned in favor of City of Manila.

Issue:

Whether or not Filstream was deprived of due process on the ground of non-compliance with priority in
expropriation?

Held:

There is no dispute as to the existence of a final and executory judgment in favor of petitioner Filstream
ordering the ejectment of private respondents from the properties.

The City of Manila has an undeniable right to exercise its power of eminent domain within its jurisdiction
specifically in pursuit of its urban land reform and housing program.

Very clear from the provisions are the limitations with respect to the order of priority in acquiring
private lands and in resorting to expropriation proceedings as a means to acquire the same. Private
lands rank last in the order of priority for purposes of socialized housing. In the same vein, expropriation
proceedings are to be resorted to only when the other modes of acquisition have been exhausted.

Compliance with these conditions must be deemed mandatory because these are the only safeguards in
securing the right of owners of private property to due process when their property is expropriated for
public use.
RA 7279 Uran Development Housing Act of 1992

Sec. 9. Priorities in the acquisition of Land. — Lands for socialized housing shall be acquired in the
following order:

(a) Those owned by the Government or any of its subdivisions, instrumentalities, or agencies, including
government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries;

(b) Alienable lands of the public domain;

(c) Unregistered or abandoned and idle lands;

(d) Those within the declared Areas for Priority Development, Zonal Improvement sites, and Slum
Improvement and Resettlement Program sites which have not yet been acquired;

(e) Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services or BLISS sites which have not yet been acquired;
and

(f) Privately-owned lands.

Where on-site development is found more practicable and advantageous to the beneficiaries, the
priorities mentioned in this section shall not apply. The local government units shall give budgetary
priority to on-site development of government lands.