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Republic of the Philippines

REGIONALTRIAL COURT
Fifth Judicial Region
BRANCH 13
Ligao City, Albay

HEIRS OF RAMON SIERRA JR.


NAMELY:

JENNIFER C. SIERRA,
JACQUELINE C. SIERRA
BANAO, JOSELYN SIERRA,
JOANNA SIERRA, RAMON
SIERRA III, MARK JOSEPH
SIERRA AND JAIME NOEL
SIERRA
Plaintiffs,

-versus- CIVIL CASE NO. 2905


For: Quieting of Title, Recovery of
Possession and Damages

FLOR B. SABANAL,
GUILBERTO SANTIAGO,
LUZVIMINDA BANARES,
CONRADO BERMAS, ALFREDO
BORBE, MARIANO SANTIAGO,
NESTOR BALBIN, OSCAR
MADRILEJOS AND MARIANO
BERMAS, JR.

MERCEDES DE VERA
Defendants,

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR


OF DEEDS OF ALBAY, LEGAZPI
CITY

PROVINCIAL ENVIRONMENT
AND NATURAL RESOURCES
OFFICE, LEGAZPI CITY
Public Respondents.
x-------------------------------------x

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ANSWER WITH MOTION TO ADMIT

PUBLIC RESPONDENT,Provincial Environment and Natural


Resources Office (PENRO Albay, for brevity), by the undersigned counsel,
and unto this Honorable Court, most respectfully states and pleads, that:

1. BY WAY OF MOTION TO ADMIT


1.1 On May 11, 2018, the PENRO Albay received summons
requiring it to file its answer to the amended complaint;
1.2 On May 31, 2018, the abovementioned summons was
transmitted to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources V Legal Division (DENR V, Legal Division for brevity)
for appropriate action;
1.3 With all humility, considering the laps of time to timely file the
required answer, due to the inadvertent and unintentional delay
in the transmittal of the abovementioned summons from the
PENRO Albay to DENR V, Legal Division, hence the filing of the
instant motion.
1.4 Hence, PENRO Albay, through the undersigned counsels, in the
interest of justice humbly and respectfully begs the kind
indulgence of this Honorable Court to ADMIT THE ANSWER
AND BE MADE PART OF THE RECORDS OF THE CASE.

2. BY WAY OF ANSWER
2.1 Paragraph 2 of the complaint is ADMITTED.
3. Paragraph 3 is ADMITTED as far as the DENR’s function of
approving land applications but not as to the issuance of titles and
tax declarations to the subject properties concerned.
4. Paragraph 4 is ADMITTED as far as DENR is concerned where it
may be served with summons and other legal processes.

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5. Paragraph 5 is ADMITTED in so far as the identities of Nicasio
Chua, Sr. and Paula Gabelo Chua as parents of the complainants
and defendants are concerned as well as the identities of the
subject parcel of lands to which patent applications were
approved.
6. Public defendant DENY the allegations in paragraphs 6,
6.1,6.2,6.3,6.4,6.5,7,7.1,7.2,8,9,10 and 11 of the complaint for
want of knowledge and information sufficient to form a belief as to
the truth or falsity thereof.
7. The allegations in paragraphs 12, 13,14,15,16 and 17 of the same
complaint are likewise DENIED for want of knowledge and
information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth or falsity
thereof.

SPECIAL AND AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE

Public defendant incorporates all the material averments in the


preceding paragraphs and alleges that:

8. The subject land is part of the public domain, hence pursuant to


Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended, the DENR has primary
jurisdiction to confirm any imperfect or incomplete title.

9. Before the assailed Katibayan ng Orihinal na TituloBlg.


2013000015 and 2013000016 in the name of Nicasio Chua, Jr. and
Johnson Chua respectively were issued, the same had undergone
the faithful appreciation of the documents presented and
investigation process for public grants.

10. Public defendant Regional Director,Department of Environment


and Natural Resources (DENR for brevity) Regional Office V has no
direct participation in the approval of the assailed titles as she is
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not personally involved in the processing and approval of the
same.

11. Moreover, those who have direct participation in the approval


of the same were in good faith and had regularly discharged their
duties in approving the aforecited titles, hence, the presumption of
regularity in the performance of their duty shall prevail in this
case.

12. Likewise, plaintiffs miserably failed to substantiate their claim


regarding public defendant’s alleged negligence in issuing the
assailed titles despite the alleged legal proscriptions aside from
their bare assertions.

13. Finally, the claim for damages against public defendant must
fail. The case of Vinzons-Chato vs. Tabaco Fortune Corp.,
525 SCRA 11, is instructive on this, to wit:

“The general rule is that a public officer is


not liable for damages which a person may
suffer arising from the just performance of his
official duties and within the scope of his
assigned tasks; however, a public officer is by the
law not immune from damages in his/her personal
capacity for acts done in bad faith which being
outside the scope of his authority, are no longer
protected by the mantle of immunity for official
actions.” (Emphasis supplied)

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WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed of that
the instant complaint as against herein public defendantbe dismissed for
utter lack of merit.

Public defendant pray for such other relief as the Court may deem
just and equitable under the premises.

Legazpi City for Irosin, Sorsogon. May 8, 2017.

Department of Environment and Natural


Resources (DENR)- Regional Office V
Legal Division
Rawis, Legazpi City.

By:

ATTY. JOSHUA V. ARMENTA


Attorney’s Roll No. 62668 dated April 29, 2013
IBP No. 1070457 dated. 1-09-17
PTR No. 02090381 dated 1-16-17
MCLE Compliance No. V-0012030 dated
November 12, 2015

Copy furnished by registered mail:

Atty. Joven G. Laura


Block 17, Lot 8 Seabreeze Homes
Sorsogon City

EXPLANATION FOR NON-PERSONAL SERVICE AND FILING

Due to lack of personnel and distance constraints, copy of this


Answer was served to the counsel of the plaintiffs and filed before the
Honorable Court through registered mail.

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ATTY. JOSHUA V. ARMENTA

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