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Airport asserts authority over Fernan family’s lot By Doris C. Bongcac Cebu Daily News Posted date: August 29, 2008 The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) said it reserves the right to dispose of a disputed lot in barangay Lahug because it was expropriated in 1959 from the family of the late Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan. There was no condition stated that the government would allow the Fernans to buy back the land if it is not used as an airport, said an official. “There was no stated condition in the expropriation proceeding and the lot owners were paid a just compensation,” said Capitol consultant Rory John Sepulveda, speaking in behalf of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, chairperson of the MCIAA board. The Fernan family is suing the government to recover the 5,343-square-meter lot, also known as “lot no. 2.” The petition for reconveyance and damages filed by the heirs of the late chief justice is pending before the Regional Trial Court. The Capitol consultant explained that when the government was expanding the Lahug airport in the 1950s, it used two means to acquire land: conditional sale and expropriation. Conditional sale was covered by a contract, which stated that the original owner may repurchase the lot at the same value the government bought it for if it is not used as the government intended, Sepulveda said, while expropriation was used for land whose owners were not willing to sell. Expropriation proceedings did not cover what would be done with the lot should it not be used as originally intended. Lot no. 2 was expropriated, not sold, Sepulveda said. This means that the heirs of Fernan have no grounds to buy back the lot originally owned by their father. The lot is now occupied by the offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7). DPWH-7 had been leasing the property from the MCIAA, which controls land and other properties that once composed the now-defunct Lahug airport. While DPWH-7’s lease contract expired last April, Sepulveda said the property still rightfully belongs to the MCIAA. The heirs of Marcelo Fernan recently filed a petition for reconveyance to recover the lot. They want to buy back the lot at P3 per square meter or P16,029 for the entire lot, the same price the government paid Fernan when the lot was expropriated. They also asked for damages and other expenses amounting to at least P650,000. The Fernans cited as basis the 2003 decision of the Supreme Court (SC) in the case of the heirs of Timoteo Moreno, who also owned a lot that the government expropriated to expand the Lahug airport. The Moreno lot is now occupied by the entrance of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino. The SC ordered the government to sell back the lot to the Morenos since the airport expansion never materialized. The SC, in the Moreno case, said, “We are cognizant of the incontestable fact that some landowners immediately sold their properties upon the assurance that they could repurchase them at the cessation of the Lahug airport’s operation. The Fernan heirs said in their petition that the government also gave their predecessors the assurance of reconveyance should the Lahug airport be abandoned. But Sepulveda insisted that no such condition was stated during expropriation proceedings. He said the Fernan heirs may have been inspired by the SC decision on the Moreno case, prompting the Fernans to try to buy back their lot as well. Sepulveda said the Fernans’ case against the MCIAA would allow the court to revisit the SC’s decision on the Moreno case. He said there was a need to determine if all expropriated lots for the Lahug airport were also covered by the condition that allowed original owners to buy the lots back if the lot was not used as intended. If so, there was also a need to determine what price would be used to resell the lots – the original price that the government paid for it, or current market values.