SC affirms concessionaire’s eviction from Army facility

FILE: Facade of Supreme Court of the Philippines (PNA photo)

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) ruled in favor of the Philippine Army (PA) in a suit it filed against a concessionaire tailoring and barbershop within the vicinity of the Army Training Unit.

In a decision penned by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta dated July 15 and made public Thursday, the court’s first division reversed the Court of Appeals (CA) and reinstated the decision of the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) in the suit to evict concessionaire Moises Albania.

The court also remanded the case back to the MeTC for purposes of computing the amount of rental arrearages from Albania with interests from first demand on May 25, 1995 to June 30, 2013.

The Army unit entered into an agreement with Albania in 1993 and provides that the same may be revoked anytime in case of violation of its terms or when security, public interest, and/or military exigencies or necessity requires.

Albania was asked to vacate the area as it would be used as a relocation site for the Army’s units that were displaced when a substantial portion of Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation was taken by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). The parties then went to court.