Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=45876:148562&amp;catid=1459&amp;Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 21:49:38+00:00

Document:
G.R. No. 148562 - TAGBILARAN INTEGRATED SETTLERS ASSOCIATION, ET AL. v. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.
TAGBILARAN INTEGRATED SETTLERS ASSOCIATION [TISA] INCORPORATED THRU ITS SECRETARY-TREASURER REPRESENTATIVE SIXTO MUMAR, SR. AS WELL AS ITS OTHER OFFICERS AND MEMBERS, NAMELY: AURELIO CIRUNAY, CIPRIANO GAMIL, ROBERTO MEDINA, BASILISA PUMARES, MARIETA LUMAYNO, CRISOSA A. TAPAY, JULIETA DURAN, RAMON RAMOS, JR., DELIO ERANA, EMETERIA ALE, PANFILO LAWAY, CRISPIN PENASO, HADJE MALIK, ALANGADI SULTAN, BERNARDA GULLEBAN, MANUEL CHATTO, KABSARAN MAMACAL, PEDRO ESTOQUE, and EULALIO SARAMOSING, Petitioners, v. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, TAGBILARAN WOMAN'S CLUB REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT and LAMBERT'S REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGER, CRISPIN PENASO, SPS. ALEX and ARLENE SANTOS, NECITA BOLATETE, CAROL CURIBA, MAMARI BUSAR, ANTONIO BULASA, SUSAN PANTOJA, LEONORA ESTALLO, DANIEL OMICTIN, BOBBY BANDIANON and CARMEN CRISTALES, Respondents.
Petitioner Tagbilaran Integrated Settlers Association (TISA), is an organization founded in 1991 by individuals who have residential and business establishments in a commercial lot located at Torralba and Parras Streets in Tagbilaran City. The lot, which has an area of 2,726 square meters, is covered by TCT No. (142) 21047 in the name of respondent Tagbilaran Women's Club (TWC).
In a letter to petitioners dated January 6, 1990, TWC demanded that they vacate the rented premises on the following grounds: expiration of lease contracts, non-payment of rentals, and violations of the conditions of lease including noncompliance with sanitary and building ordinances.6 Another letter of demand, dated July 16, 1990, was sent to petitioners who refused to vacate the premises, however.
On February 25, 1993, TWC entered into a lease contract on the lot with one Lambert Lim who at once paid a total of P240,000.00 representing payment of rentals for the first twelve (12) months.7 Petitioners nevertheless refused to vacate the lot, they contending that the contract of lease between TWC and Lambert Lim is null and void because TWC impliedly extended to them new contracts of lease when it continued collecting monthly rentals from them.
Petitioners appealed the trial court's decision before the Court of Appeals which, by decision12 of February 28, 2001, affirmed that of the trial court.
The lease contracts executed by TWC and petitioners in 1986/1987 were for a period of one year. Following Article 166915 of the Civil Code, the lease contracts having been executed for a determinate time, they ceased on the day fixed, that is, a year after their execution without need of further demand.
If at the end of the contract the lessee should continue enjoying the thing leased for fifteen days with the acquiescence of the lessor, and unless a notice to the contrary by either party has previously been given, it is understood that there is an implied new lease, not for the period of the original contract, but for the time established in Articles 1682 and 1687. The other terms of the original contract shall be revived.
When notice to vacate dated January 6, 1990 was sent by TWC to petitioners, followed by another dated July 16, 1990, the tacita reconduccion was aborted. For a notice to vacate constitutes an express act on the part of the lessor that it no longer consents to the continued occupation by the lessees of its property.
As for petitioners' contention that TWC violated Article 1654 (c) of the Civil Code when it entered into a lease contract with Lim on February 25, 1993 without their previous consent, the same does not lie. For after TWC notified petitioners, by letter of January 6, 1990, to vacate the occupied premises, the implied new lease had been aborted and they, therefore, had no right to continue occupying the lot. Their continued occupation of the premises had thus become unlawful.
As to whether petitioners are covered by P.D. No. 1517, Proclamation No. 1893, RA 7279 and Presidential Decree No. 20, this Court holds in the negative.
Under P.D. 1517, only legitimate tenants who have resided on the land for ten years or more who have built their homes on the land and residents who have legally occupied the lands by contract, continuously for the last ten years, are given the right of first refusal to purchase the land within a reasonable time.24 In the case at bar, petitioners entered into one year lease contracts with TWC for commercial use only and conversion of the rented premises to dwelling was strictly prohibited. On that score alone, petitioners' case does not fall under P.D. No. 1517.
As for Proclamation No. 1893,28 the same covers only the Metropolitan Manila Area.
With respect to Section 28 of R.A. 7279, it covers only lands in urban areas, including existing areas for priority development, zonal improvement sites, slum improvement, resettlement sites, and other areas that may be identified by the local government units as suitable for socialized housing.29 Petitioners have not shown, nay alleged, however, that the lot falls within the coverage of said law.
Finally, with respect to Presidential Decree No. 20,30 the same seeks to regulate rentals of properties used for housing purposes and not for commercial use, hence, its inapplication to petitioners' case.
Finally, with respect to the disposition of the amount consigned in court by petitioners, there being no factual basis to conclusively determine whether a portion thereof represents rentals accruing before the execution on February 25, 1993 of the lease contract between Lim and TWC and whether said lease contract remains unabrogated, the matter of determining who between TWC and Lim has the right to the consigned amount and the accrued rentals rests with the trial court.
WHEREFORE, the challenged decision of the appellate court which affirmed that of the trial court is hereby AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION in that petitioners and any occupants of the lot acting for and in their behalf are ordered to PAY any unpaid and accrued monthly rentals plus legal interest until the leased premises have been surrendered to the TWC and/or Lambert Lim.
Let the records of the case be remanded to the court of origin, Branch 2 of the Regional Trial Court of Tagbilaran City, which is directed to determine who between respondents herein has a right to the consigned amount in the sum of P176,585.00 and to any accrued and unpaid rentals to due petitioners.
4 CA Rollo at 65-66.
15 Art. 1669. If the lease was made for a determinate time. It ceases upon the day fixed, without the need of a demand.
17 Paterno v. Court of Appeals, 272 SCRA 770, 778 (1997).
18 Civil Code, Art. 1687. If the period for the lease has not been fixed, it is understood to be from year to year, if the rent agreed upon is annual; from month to month, if it is monthly; from week to week, if the rent is weekly; and from day to day, if the rent is to be paid daily. However, even though a monthly rent is paid, and no period for the lease has been set, the courts may fix a longer term for the lease after the lessee has occupied the premises for over one year. If the rent is weekly, the courts may likewise determine a longer period after the lessee has been in possession for over six months. In case of daily rent, the courts may also fix a longer period after the lessee has stayed in the place for over one month.
19 Chua v. Court of Appeals, 242 SCRA 744, 751 (1995).
22 LL and Company Development and Agro-Industrial Corporation v. Huang Chao-Chun, 378 SCRA 612, 627 (2002).
(3) To maintain the lessee in the peaceful and adequate enjoyment of the lease for the entire duration of the contract.
24 P.D. 1517, Section 6. Land Tenancy in Urban Land Reform Areas. - Within the Urban Zones legitimate tenants who have resided on the land for ten years or more who have built their homes on the land and residents who have legally occupied the lands by contract, continuously for the last ten years shall not be dispossessed of the land and shall be allowed the right of first refusal to purchase the same within a reasonable time and at reasonable prices, under terms and conditions to be determines by the Urban Zone Expropriation and Land Management Committee created by Section 8 of this Decree.
25 Delos Santos v. Court of Appeals, 368 SCRA 226, 229 (2001).
28 Proclamation No. 1893, Declaring the Entire Metropolitan Manila Area as an Urban Land Reform Zone (September 11, 1979).
29 Banson v. Court of Appeals, 246 SCRA 42, 46 (1995).
30 Presidential Decree No. 20, Amending Certain Provisions of Republic Act No. 6359, entitled "An Act to Regulate Rentals for the Years of Dwelling Units or of Land on which Another's Dwelling is Located and Penalizing Violations thereof, and for Other Purposes."

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