Extrajudicial eviction of an agricultural tenant

The burden of proving the existence of a lawful cause for ejectment of an agricultural tenant rests on respondent bank; co-ownership, however, does not appear to be one of the legislated causes for the lawful ejectment of an agricultural tenant; absent the conduct by the PARAD of the proceedings in the DARAB case and the resolution of said case on the merits, the assailed CA ruling risks judicially approving the summary and extrajudicial eviction of agricultural tenants; the PARAD had already gained a jurisdictional foothold in the DARAB case, and should have been allowed to exercise the agency expertise in resolving the issues and problems presented. (Sps. Nolasco vs. Rural Bank of Pandi, Inc., G.R. No. 194455, June 27, 2018)