Bishop of Nueva Segovia vs.

Provincial Board of Ilocos Norte

GR 27588, 31 December 1927
En Banc, Avancena (J): 5 concur
Facts: The Roman Catholic Apostolic Church is the owner of a parcel of land in
San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte. On the south side is a part of the Church yard, the
convent and an adjacent lost used for a vegetable garden in which there is a
stable and a well for the use of the convent. In the center is the remainder of the
churchyard and the Church. On the north side is an old cemetery with its two
walls still standing, and a portion where formerly stood a tower. The provincial
board assessed land tax on lots comprising the north and south side, which the
church paid under protest. It filed suit to recover the amount.
Issue: Whether the lots are covered by the Churchs tax exemption.
Held: The exemption in favor of the convent in the payment of land tax refers to
the home of the priest who presides over the church and who has to take care of
himself in order to discharge his duties. The exemption includes not only the
land actually occupied by the Church but also the adjacent ground destined to
the ordinary incidental uses of man. A vegetable garden, thus, which belongs to a
convent, where its use is limited to the necessity of the priest, comes under the
exemption. Further, land used as a lodging house by the people who participate
in religious festivities, which constitutes an incidental use in religious functions,
likewise comes within the exemption. It cannot be taxed according to its former
use, i.e. a cemetery