SC affirms eviction of Rivera Village homeowners

The Supreme Court (SC) has given the go signal to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to evict homeowners at the four-hectare Rivera Village in Barangays 199 and 200 in Pasay City.

In a 28-page decision penned by Associate Justice Dante Tinga, the High Court’s second division reversed and set aside the June 30, 2000 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA), which directed the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction restraining the MIAA from evicting the homeowners of Rivera Village.

Court records showed that then Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) was entrusted with the administration, operation, management, control, maintenance and development of the MIAA, now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The power of the MIAA is to enter into, make and execute concessions and concession rights for purposes essential to the operation of the airport. On May 25, 1965, the CAA, through its Director Capt. Vicente Rivera, entered into individual lease contracts with its employees for the lease of portions of a four-hectare lot situated in what is now known as the Rivera Village in Barangay 199 and 200.

The lease agreement was for a 25-year period, from May 25, 1965 to May 24, 1990. On May 4, 1982, Executive Order (EO) 778 was issued and was amended by EO 903 on July 21, 1983 creating the MIAA. EO 903 transferred the existing assets of the Manila International Airport (MIA) and MIAA was vested with the power to administer and operate the NAIA. Sometime in January 1995, the MIAA stopped issuing accrued rental bills and refused to accept rental payments from the lessees of the Rivera Village.

This prompted the Rivera Village Lessee Homeowners Association Inc., to request the MIAA to sell the property to its members by invoking the provisions of Presidential Decree 1517 or the Urban Land Reform Act and PD 2016. On Feb. 14, 1996, the MIAA denied the association’s request, claiming that the subject property is included in its Conceptual Development Plan intended for airport-related activities.

The association then filed a petition for prohibition with prayer for issuance of a preliminary injunction before the Pasy Regional Trial Court (RTC) against the MIAA and the National Housing Authority (NHA).

The association asked the Pasay RTC to restrain the MIAA from implementing its Conceptual Development Paln insofar as Rivera Village is concerned, compel the MIAA to segregate Rivera Village from the scope of the Conceptual Development Plan and order the NHA to take the necessary steps for the disposition of the property in favor of the members of the homeowners association.

On Oct. 12, 1998, the Pasay RTC denied the petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction and dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

The Pasay RTC held that Presidential Decree 1818 bars the issuance of a restraining order, preliminary injunction or preliminary mandatory injunction in any case, dispute or controversy involving infrastructure projects of the government or any public utility operated by the government.

The CA said the expiration of the lease contracts cannot adversely affect the rights required by the lessess under the foregoing laws.

But it declared that it cannot make a definitive ruling on the rights of the members of the homeowners association pertaining to the MIAA conceptual development plan, considering the need for a full-blown trial to determine whether the claimed rights under the pertinent laws have ripened to actual legal and vested rights in their favor.

In reversing the CA’s ruling, the High Court said that a writ of mandamus can be issued only when petitioner’s legal right to the performance of a particular act which is sought to be compelled is clear and complete.