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Air Transportation Office, et al. vs Apolonio Gopuco, Jr

AIR TRANSPORTATION OFFICE (ATO) and MACTAN-CEBU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY (MCIAA), Petitioners, versus APOLONIO GOPUCO, JR., Respondent.

G.R. No. 158563 | 2005-06-30

D E C I S I O N 


CHICO-NAZARIO, J.: 

When private land is expropriated for a particular public use, and that particular public use is abandoned, does its former owner acquire a cause of action for recovery of the property? 

The trial court's ruling in the negative was reversed by the Court of Appeals in its Decision[1] of 28 February 2001. Hence this petition for review under Rule 45 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure of the said Decision of the court a quo, and its Resolution[2] of 22 May 2003 dismissing petitioners' motion for reconsideration. 

The facts, as adduced from the records, are as follows: 

Respondent...