G.R. No. L-31635 – 148-B Phil. 474 – 40 SCRA 464 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – State Immunity From Suit – Acts of Public Officials; When Immunity may Not Be Invoked
Powers of the State – Eminent Domain – Just Compensation; How Determined
Angel Ministerio owns a titled lot in Cebu. In 1927, the government, through the Public Highway Commissioner, took Ministerio’s property for purposes of road widening. The government did not initiate any expropriation case nor did it enter into any contract with Ministerio. Decades passed and Ministerio remained unpaid. In 1966, Ministerio filed a collection suit against the Public Highway Commissioner. The trial court dismissed the suit on the ground that the suit is a suit against the State; that the suit was without the State’s consent hence dismissible.
ISSUE: Whether or not the decision is correct.
HELD: No. The doctrine of governmental immunity from suit cannot serve as an instrument for perpetrating an injustice on a citizen. The Public Highway Commissioner did not follow the proper procedure when Ministerio’s property was taken. The SC emphasized that the State authorizes only legal acts by its officers, unauthorized acts of government officials or officers are not acts of the State, and an action against the officials or officers by one whose rights have been invaded or violated by such acts, for the protection of his rights, is not a suit against the State within the rule of immunity of the State from suit.
Nevertheless, when the government takes any property for public use, which is conditioned upon the payment of just compensation, to be judicially ascertained, it makes manifest that it submits to the jurisdiction of a court.
The case is remanded to the trial court to determine just compensation.
What is the reckoning time for the determination of just compensation?
The rule is that to determine due compensation for lands appropriated by the Government, the basis should be the price or value at the time that it was taken from the owner and appropriated by the Government.
