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Rafael Albano, Venancio Albano & Edwin Patricio vs. C.A. (Seventh Division)Iglesia Filipina Independiente assisted by Bishop Juanito Ferrer, Fr. Ben Vilanueva, Vintar Parish Priest & Amador Leano, Layman's Vice Chairman

RAFAEL ALBANO, VENANCIO ALBANO and EDWIN PATRICIO, petitioners, vs. COURT OF APPEALS (Seventh Division) and IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPENDIENTE assisted by BISHOP JUANITO FERRER, FR. BEN VILANUEVA, Vintar Parish Priest and AMADOR LEANO, Layman's Vice Chairman, respondents.

G.R. No. 144708 | 2001-08-10

D E C I S I O N

BELLOSILLO, J.:

WITH A THOUSAND AND ONE INQUIETUDES then besetting the Roman Catholic Church, Monico Albano and Nemesio Albano strayed away from its flock and joined Bishop Gregorio Aglipay in his newly-founded congregation - the Iglesia Filipina Independiente ("IFI"). To express their piety and devotion to their new faith, sometime in 1908 the Albanos allowed the IFI to construct a small iglesia within a 1,854-square meter unregistered property in Vintar, Ilocos Sur, which their family had been occupying for years. In due time, a modest structure of sawali and cogon rose beside the Albanos' ancestral brick house.

In...