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867
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dent Gervasio Lagua; that the cause of action to enforce
Gervasio's legitime, having accrued only upon the death of
his father on 12 November 1958, the dispute has to be
governed by the pertinent provisions of the new Civil Code;
and that a donation propter nuptias property may be
reduced for being inofficious. Contrary to the views of
appellants (petitioners), donations propter nuptias (by
reason of marriage) are without onerous consideration, the
marriage being merely the occasion or motive for the
donation, not its causa. Being liberalities, they remain
subject to reduction for inofficiousness upon the donor's 2
death, if they should infringe the legitime of a forced heir.
It is to be noted, however, that in rendering the
judgment under review, the Court of Appeals acted on
several unsupported assumptions: that the three (3) lots
mentioned in the-decision (Nos. 998, 5106 and 6541) were
the only properties composing the net hereditary estate of
the deceased Cipriano Lagua; that Alejandro Lagua and
Gervasio Lagua were his only legal heirs; that the deceased
left no unpaid debts, charges, 3
taxes, etc., for which the
estate would be answerable. In the computation of the
heirs' legitime, the Court of Appeals also considered only
the area, not the value, of the properties.
The infirmity in the above course of action lies in the
fact that in its Article 908 the new Civil Code specifically
provides as follows:
________________
1 See Complaint, Civil Case No. 442, page 50, Record on Appeal: That
plaintiff Gervasio Lagua is entitled for a protection of his rights over the
one-half of each of said two parcels of land which (are) supposed to be
reserved for the legitimes of forced heirs, and which plaintiff' (Cipriano)
"could not donate x x x."
2 21 Scaevola, Cod. Civ., 2d Ed., pages 328-329; 348-349; Vol. I, Reyes
and Puno, An Outline of Philippine Civil Law, 1965 ed., page 166.
3 There is no evidence on these facts.
870
deducting all debts, and charges, which shall not include those
Imposed in the will.
"To "To the net value of the 'hereditary estate, shall be added
the value of all donations by the testator that are subject to
collation, at' the time he made them."
________________
4 Ramos vs. Cariño, L-17429 (October 31, 1962), 6 SCRA 482, 486.
871
ANNOTATION
MEANING AND DETERMINATION OF JUST
COMPENSATION IN EMINENT DOMAIN OR
EXPROPRIATION PROCEEDINGS
874
the war, the owners would have again built their homes on
these lands had not the Army authorities restrained them
from doing so. The residential nature of the land was
further shown by the topography of the land and other
advantages mentioned in the commissioners' report as well
as by the tax declaration based on a general revision
throughout the country in accordance with a schedule of
values approved by the Secretary of Finance and not upon
declaration of the taxpayers.
But what if, because of the gravel and earth filling
caused by the Japanese during the war on the lands under
expropriation, such lands could no longer be returned to
their former status of rice and coconut lands and, had the
Government not taken them, could have been utilized by
the owners for residential purposes? It was held, in
Republic v. Garcellano, et al., L-9553 and L-12630, March
29, 1958, that if, as in fact, the lands were agricultural
when they were taken by the Japanese forces during the
war and from that time the owners never recovered or
regained their use and possession. the lands should be
considered agricultural in the expropriation proceedings, in
conformance with the theory that the owner of private
property should recover only for what he actually loses at
the time his property is taken.
(2) Sales prices of other lands.—Purchases and sales of
lands or property within the same locality are competent
and material evidence to determine the true market value
of expropriated land. This, however, is subject to certain
conditions. First, the transactions must be shown to have
been made in good faith or under normal circumstances or
in the ordinary course of legal business and competition
and the prices stated therein must have been real and not
affected by unusual conditions. Second, the character of the
parcels subject of the purchases and sales as sites for
business purposes, dwellings, or for whatever other use
which enhances the pecuniary value of the condemned land
must be so sufficiently similar to that of the latter that it
may be assumed that the price of the condemned land
would be approximately near the price brought by the par-
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