USA College of Law

DORONILA – 1F

NATIONAL POWER CORPORATION VS. SAN PEDRO

Eminent Domain
G.R. NO. 170945 | SEPTEMBER 26, 2006
Justice Romeo Callejo Sr.
“Determination of Just Compensation is a Judicial Function”

RELEVANT FACTS:

• Republic Act No. 6395, as amended, allows NPC to enter private property provided that the
owners thereof shall be indemnified for any actual damage caused.

• NPC negotiated with Maria Mendoza San Pedro, et.al. for an easement of right of way over
her property (which was partly residential and partly agricultural) in relation to the construction
of NPC’s transmission line and tower.

• San Pedro granted the right of way for P1,277,886.90. However, NPC Board of Directors
approved Board Resolution No. 97-246 stating that it would pay only P230.00 per sq.m for
the residential portion and P89.00 per sq.m for the agricultural portion once certain terms and
conditions are met.

• Expropriation proceedings were then initiated by NPC to which San Pedro contested the
amount of just compensation claiming that NPC had resorted to deceit, trickery and
machination to induce her to grant a right of way by assuring her a different amount.

• The RTC rendered judgment and fixed the amount of just compensation. NPC appealed the
decision to the CA, and later on to the SC, arguing that the fixing of just compensation should
be based on the amount alleged in the complaint as provided by R.A. No. 6395 and that the
heirs should only be entitled to an easement fee.

ISSUES:
1. Whether there is an error in the fixing of just compensation by the lower court.
2. Whether the right of way easement resulting to the deprivation of use of the property is
considered a taking.

RULING:
1. THERE IS NO ERROR IN THE FIXING OF JUST COMPENSATION.

Determination of just compensation in eminent domain cases is a judicial function. There is

no issue with regard to the valuation of the property.
 The constitutional limitation of "just compensation" is considered to be the sum equivalent to
the market value of the property, broadly described to be the price fixed by the seller in open
market in the usual and ordinary course of legal action and competition or the fair value of the
property as between one who receives, and one who desires to sell it, fixed at the time of the
actual taking by the government. To determine the just compensation to be paid to the
landowner, the nature and character of the land at the time of its taking is the principal
criterion.

2. THE EASEMENT OF RIGHT OF WAY IS TAKING UNDER THE POWER OF

EMINENT DOMAIN

The right of way easement results in a restriction or limitation on property rights over the land
traversed by transmission lines as its deprives private respondents of its ordinary use. As such,
it falls within the ambit of the term “expropriation.”

[APPEAL DENIED AND DECISION OF LOWER COURT AFFIRMED]