REPUBLIC V. ANDAYA (REMEDIAL)

Issue: Is the Republic liable for just compensation if in enforcing the legal easement of right-of-way on a property, the remaining area would be rendered unusable and uninhabitable?

It is undisputed that there is a legal easement of right-of-way in favor of the Republic. We are unable t sustain Republic's argument that it is not liable to pay consequential damages if in enforcing the legal easement of Andaya's property, the remaining area would be rendered unusable and uninhabitable.

TAKING in the exercise of the power of eminent domain occurs not only when the government actually deprives or dispossesses the property owner of his property or of its ordinary use, but also when there is practical destruction or material impairment of the value of his property. Using this standard, there was undoubtedly a taking of the remaining area of Andaya's property.

True, no burden was imposed thereon and Andaya still retained title and possession of the property. But the nature and the effect of the floodwalls would deprive Andaya of the normal use of the remaining areas. It would prevent ingress and egress to the property and turn it into a catch basin for the floodwaters coming form the Agusan River.

For this reason, in our view, Andaya is entitled to payment of just compensation, which must be neither more nor less that the monetary equivalent of the land.

JC (Just Compensation) = FMV (Fair Market Value) + CD (Consequential Damages) - CB (Consequential Benefits) (CB should not exceed CD)

Eminent Domain is the substantive law. Expropriation is the procedural law. Public use or public purpose may cater only to a minority.