PLJ volume 37 number 1 -01- Deogracias Eufemio

with the spirit and purpose of the law and the demands of justice,.
equity and fair play."
4. Under Rep. Act No. 2616. 139
In the case of Tua.so'n & Co. v. Ct. of Appeals,HO it appears that
Tuason & Co.• as owner of the Tatalon Estate in Quezon City, instituted
ejectment proceedings against Rosete and Dizon, alleged occupants
of said estate. It obtained a favorable judgment which was
affirmed on appeal to the Court of Appeals. The decision having
becomefinal and executory, it prayed for writs of execution and orders
of demolition of the houses of the evictees.
Moreover, it brought a separate action for prohibition in the
CFI of Quezon City against the Land Tenure Administration, the
Auditor General and the Solicitor General. to restrain them from
instituting expropriation proceedings against the Tatalon Estate as
expressly authorized by Rep. Act No. 2616. The Company contended
that the said Act is unconstitutional, as legislation aimed at depriving
it of its property for the benefit of squatters and occupants, even
if the property had been actually subdivided and its lots were being
sold to the public; and that respondents threatened to enforce said
law by instituting expropriation proceedings. Judge Caluag of the
CFI issued an ex pa,?t.e writ of preliminary injunction, upon the filing
of the required bond by the Company.
Meanwhile, the evictees petitioned the CFI to suspend the order
of demolition of their houses, on the ground that they were tenants
of the Tatalon Estate; that Rep. Act No. 2616, after specifically
authorizing the expropriation of the Tatalon Estate. categorically
provides:
"Section 4. After the expropriation proceedings mentioned in section
two of this Act shall have been initiated and during the pendency of the
same, no ejectment proceedings shall be instituted or prosecuted against
the present occupant of any lot in said T,atalon Estate, and no ejeetment
proceedings already commencedshall be continued and such lot or any
portion thereof shall not be sold by the owners of said estate ,to any person
other than the present occupant without the consent of the latter
given in a public instrument."
Judge Yatco of the CFI denied the petition to suspend the order
of demolition, inasmuch as no expropriation proceedings had
IJeenactually filed.
Whereupon, the evictees filed certiorari proceedings in the Court
of Appeals, praying that Judge Yatco be enjoined from issuing the