CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY LANDLESS RESIDENTS V. COURT OF APPEALS
254 SCRA 220
FACTS:
The subject lot of this case was formerly classified as timberland until the time it was reclassified by the government as public land. Petitioners were then authorized to survey land, for purposes of subdivision into residential lots. Meanwhile, NHA initiated expropriation proceedings including the subject lot. Petitioner intervened and said that instead of being paid through money, it preferred acquisition of any housing area of NHA. Upon learning of the annulment of the title over the same land, the NHA sought the suspension of the expropriation proceedings. Thereafter, the SC finally resolved by annulling the title and declaring the subject lot to be public land. The Bureau was furnished of the decision and according to an investigation, members of the petitioner was found settling in the land. A Presidential proclamation was then issued reserving the entire subject land for a slum improvement project of the NHA. This led to the rejection of the survey submitted by petitioner and the demolition of the settlement constructed by members of the petitioner. This prompted petitioner to file a case for forcible entry on which the trial court decided in its favor. During the pendency of the civil case, a special patent was issued for the entire subject land. The petitioner sought the execution of decision, which was countered by a case for quieting of title by the NHA.
HELD:
As an extraordinary remedy, injunction is calculated to preserve or maintain the status quo of things and is generally availed of to prevent actual or threatened acts, until the merits of the case can be heard. As
such, injunction is accepted as a strong arm of equity or a transcendent remedy to be used cautiously, as it affects the respective rights of the parties, and only upon full conviction on the part of the court of its extreme
necessity.
NHA was entitled to the writ of injunction because of the pendency of an appeal for forcible entry; the special patent issued to it by the president over the parcel of land.