G.R. No. 202384, May 04, 2021
FACTS:
The Sangguniang Panlungsod of the City of Las Piñas enacted City Ordinance No. 343-97, Series of 1997 (City Ordinance No. 343-97), which declared Marcos Alvarez Avenue as a public road. South Rich Acres (SRA) and Top Service filed a Petition for Declaratory Relief and Damages against the City of Las Piñas to annul City Ordinance. SRA is the present legal owner of the seven parcels of land (subject lots) which formed part of a private road network, collectively referred to as Marcos Alvarez Avenue and the City Ordinance No. 343-97 in effect deprived SRA of its ownership over the subject lots without just compensation
Royal Asia Multi-Properties, Inc. (RAMPI) filed a Motion for Leave of Court to File Answer in Intervention on the ground that it has legal interest in the upholding of the validity and constitutionality of City Ordinance No. 343-97 because SRA and Top Service had been unjustifiably demanding payment from them for the use of Marcos Alvarez Avenue. It asserts that under PD 1216, the open spaces and roads in residential subdivisions are beyond the commerce of men, having been automatically and directly identified for public use and vested in favor of the then Municipality of Las Piñas. Consequently, EPCIB substituted RAMPI as intervenor-defendant because all the rights and interests over the Royal South Subdivision had already been transferred, conveyed, and assigned by RAMPI to EPCIB.