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EN BANC

G.R. No. L-7738 May 30, 1955

BALDOMERO TACAD, ET AL. Petitioners, vs. POTENCIANA VDA. DE CEBRERO, Respondent.

Nicolas V. Reyes for petitioners.
Onofre Guevara for respondent.

REYES, A., J.:

This is an appeal by certiorari from a decision of the Court of Industrial Relations.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

The decision authorizes the ejectment of the herein petitioning tenants from their landholdings at the close of the 1953-1954 agricultural year and decrees that the 1952-1953 harvest be reliquidated on a 60-40 basis in favor of the respondent landowner.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Ground for the ejectment is the finding that the tenants were guilty of disobedience and negligence for "concertedly disappearing on the appointed dates for threshing" with the result that the thresher, who was then and there with his machine and a crew of not less than ten employees, was not able to do any threshing, and was for that reason requiring the landowner to compensate him for damages suffered. Petitioners dispute this conclusion on the ground that it is not supported by the evidence. But the question raised is factual, and findings on the weight of evidence by the Court of Industrial Relations are conclusive on this Court.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

The question of reliquidation was submitted below on the following stipulation:.

(1) That the only year involved is the last agricultural year
1952-1953;
(2) That the only agricultural year, the landlord:
(a) shouldered the planting expenses;
(b) furnishing the seedlings;
(c) and shared equally in the threshing expenses;
(3) That the tenant also in that agricultural year:
(a) supplied the farm implements and work animals:
(b) shouldered the harvesting expenses which was 5 cavans per cavan of seedlings;
(c) plowed and harrowed;
(4) That the crop sharing basis was 50-50.

On the basis of the above stipulation the lower court ordered a reliquidation on a 60-40 basis in favor of the landowner, stating its reasons as follows:

. . . the Court should be guided by precedents particularly that laid down by our Supreme Court in the case of Sibulo vs. Altar, G.R. No. L-1916. In that case the highest court established a fixed computation to be the basis in the determination of the proportionate shares in the harvest to which the tenant and the landlord are entitled, to wit:chanrobles virtual law library

First Class Second Class
Capital (land) 30 percent 25 percent
Labor 30 percent 35 percent
Expenses 30 percent 30 percent
Work animals 5 percent 5 percent
Farm animals 5 percent 5 percentchanrobles virtual law library

"On the basis of the computation laid down by the Supreme Court, and considering the conditions as stipulated by the parties, there cannot be any doubt that the petitioner who is the landlord is entitled to 30 percent for her capital (land) and another 30 percent for shouldering the expenses, including the seedlings, and the respondents are entitled to 30 percent for labor, 5 percent for work animals, and another 5 percent for farm implements, or a total of 40 percent.

This ruling is disputed by the tenants as a misapplication of the formula adopted in the case cited, it being contented that the respondent landowner should not here be credited with the whole 30% alloted by that case to the expenses of planting and cultivation because, according to the stipulation, she only shouldered "the planting expenses." In answer respondent's counsel maintains in his brief that that the expenses of planting must be deemed to include expenses of cultivation, if any. To this we cannot agree. Cultivation, which has to do with the tilling of the land, promoting the growth and taking care of the plants, is an operation distinct from the planting itself, and if no expense was incurred for such operation it must be assumed that the work was done by the tenant himself. Such being the case, one-half of the 30% allotted to planting and cultivation expenses must be credited to the tenant. It results that the liquidation should be made on the following basis:

For the landlord:
30 percent for the land (capital)
15 percent for the planting expenses
---
45 percentchanrobles virtual law library

For the tenant:
30 percent for labor aside from cultivation
15 percent cultivation
5 percent for the work animals
5 percent for farm implements
---
55 %

In view of the foregoing, the decision below is affirmed in so much as it authorizes the ejectment of the tenants and modified as to the reliquidation of the 1952-1953 crop in the sense that the basis thereof, should be 55-45 in favor of the tenants. Without costs.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Pablo, Bengzon, Montemayor, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, and Reyes, J.B.L. JJ., concur.