This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2006-01-31 |
TINGA, J. |
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| Granting that the area leased is really in excess of 7,659.84 sq. meters as claimed by respondents, the same is already precluded from asserting such contention. Records of the case show that respondents-lessors by their silence and inaction for almost five years in contesting the area subject of the lease constitutes laches that places them in estoppel to assert their alleged right under the compromise agreement. The Motion for Constitution of Commission to delineate the boundaries of the area subject matter of the lease should have been brought earlier before the execution of the contract of lease. Failure to assert this fact within a reasonable time warrants a presumption that the respondents either has abandoned it or declined to assert it.[18] There are important conclusions drawn from the quoted pronouncement which are of binding force in this case. First, the Compromise Agreement, which provided that the leased area be delineated by a geodetic survey instituted by both parties, was already deemed as fully implemented and enforced through the simultaneous execution of the Contract of Lease. Second, the Contract of Lease established that the area covered by the agreement constituted those portions of TCT No. 44546 then occupied by respondents, which as approximated as more or less three (3) hectares in area. Third, assuming that the area actually leased to respondents exceeded the stipulated three (3) hectares by 7,659.84 sq. meters (or .76 hectares), the heirs of Baetiong, petitioner among them, had since been barred from asserting such contention by reason of laches. | |||||