As of what date is my property's value calculated for expropriation compensation — when it was taken, or when the case was filed?

Value is fixed as of the earlier date

Rule 67 governs an eminent domain case once the government's right to expropriate is no longer contested. Section 4 provides that an order of expropriation carries with it payment of just compensation to be determined as of the date of the taking of the property or the filing of the complaint, whichever came first. If the government occupied and used the land years before ever filing suit, that earlier physical taking sets the reference date, not the complaint. If, instead, the complaint reached the courthouse before any physical taking, the filing date controls. Either way, the valuation freezes on the earlier of the two events.

What this means for a rising or falling market

Because the reference point is fixed at the earlier date, whatever happens to land values afterward plays no role in the amount you are owed. A boom in the area, a new road, or general inflation between that date and the eventual court decision does not raise your compensation, and a downturn does not lower it either. The commissioners appointed to appraise the property, and the court that reviews their report, are meant to value the land as it stood — location, condition, and market price — on that earlier date, not on the date judgment is finally rendered.

The order of expropriation and what follows it

Section 4 also describes when this valuation date matters: after the court overrules the landowner's objections and defenses, or after no one appears to contest the taking, it may issue an order of expropriation declaring the government's lawful right to take the property for the stated public purpose. That order may be appealed, but the appeal does not stop the court from going on to fix just compensation. Once the order issues, the government is generally not allowed to simply drop the case except on terms the court considers just and equitable to the landowner.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

• Spouses Baterna v. National Transmission Corporation, G.R. No. 276920, January 21, 2026 (Hernando, J.) — a transmission-line right-of-way easement is a compensable taking, and where the taking preceded the complaint, just compensation is reckoned from the date the lines were installed. Read our note →