UP land claimants seek new Supreme Court ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Two people have asked the Supreme Court to have all the justices deliberate on their motion to reconsider the SC decision to uphold the title of the University of the Philippines (UP) to a 78-hectare land along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

The motion of Jorge Chin and Renato Mallari for the SC to reconsider its 2003 decision was raffled off on Tuesday to the SC’s second division.

In 2000, the SC Special First Division upheld Chin and Mallari’s title, but in 2003, the same SC division reversed its decision and upheld UP’s title.

In their motion, the two said the SC’s 2003 resolution must be voided because its 2000 decision was already final and executory.

Lawyer Prospero Anave, representing Chin and Mallari, said the SC relied solely on the interpretation of UP on the results of a Department of Environment and Natural Resources survey without taking into consideration the clarification issued by its reviewer, DENR assistant regional executive director for legal services Rogelio Tiongson, who said it was the title of UP that overlapped the title of the petitioners.

In 1994, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Lucas Bersamin ordered the Register of Deeds of Quezon City to cancel the titles of Chin and Mallari and reinstate the title of the Pael family, from whom the petitioners bought the property.

Mallari and Chin then appealed to the CA, which reversed the decision of the lower court. UP filed a motion for intervention, which the SC granted. UP is leasing the land in question to Ayala Land Inc. – Edu Punay