THE Office of the President has asked the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) to act on Supreme Court ruling ordering the MCIAA to start expropriation proceedings over undivided portions of two lots measuring nearly 150,000 square meters.
“May we respectfully refer for appropriate action, the attached letter dated ‘05 September 2017 of Mr. Richard E. Unchuan, regarding the final and executory judgment of the Supreme Court relative to the case filed by Mr. Unchuan against MCIAA (G.R. No. 182537) involving Lot Nos. 4810-A and B located in Barrio Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City,” said the letter dated Sept. 18, 2017 from the Office of the President and signed by Assistant Secretary Kelvin Lester K. Lee of the Office of the Executive Secretary.
The letter was addressed to the lawyer Steve Y. Dicdican, general manager of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
The Supreme Court in its decision said that Richard E. Unchuan is the true and legal owner of the portions of the Lot 4810-A and B.
Unchuan contested ownership of the lots that were bought by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the MCIAA’s predecessor, from Atanacio Godinez, the supposed attorney-in-fact of all registered owners and heirs of the lots.
Aside from recognizing Unchuan as the true and legal owner of the lots, the Supreme Court also ordered the MCIAA to pay rental for the use of the property at P20 per square meter from the time of the filing of the complaint until the final payment.
Unchuan filed in 2004 the complaint for partial declaration of nullity of the deed of absolute sale with Plea for Partition Damages and Attorney’s Fees before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) against the MCIAA.
Unchuan said in his complaint that he was the rightful and legal owner of Lots No. 4810-A and B with the former having an area of 177,176 square meters and the latter having an area of 2,740 square meters.
Unchuan claimed that he bought the two lots from the surviving heirs of the registered owners through several deeds of absolute sale dated Dec. 7, 1998.
He also said that he came to know about the sale of the lots from Atanacio Godinez, the supposed attorney-in-fact of all the registered owners and heirs to the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
The MCIAA filed a motion to dismiss on April 2004, but the RTC ruled in favor of Unchuan on March 2006.
The MCIAA appealed the decision but on Nov. 29, 2007, the Court of Appeals affirmed the RTC decision.
The MCIAA filed a motion for reconsideration on December 2007 and its supplemental motion for reconsideration on January 2008.
But on March 2008, the CA denied MCIAA’s Motion for Reconsideration.
Undaunted, the MCIAA elevated the case to the SC seeking to reverse the CA ruling and for a new judgment dismissing the complaint against MCIAA.