small claims case

Good day! A small claims case was filed against me since it was not resolved in the barangay level. The plaintiff is asking for the payment of the house which they constructed on OUR property(informal settlers) The property was in the process of being awarded to them at the time when the plaintiff asked my mother for payment for her house since she will be transferred to another part of the property when the property was subdivided to the beneficiaries. she asked my mother to pay for the house which we did not use and was later on demolished. my mother signed, and later the plaintiff asked me to include in a letter that we will pay the amount for her house, a handwritten letter with my signature. at the time we did not know that the house was never occupied by her or any member of her family but rented it out for several years(1990-1997). Is it right for her to claim the payment for the house which she rented out therefore earning money from it, in our expense, because we were the lawful owner of the property where the house was at the time? the government paid for the property 1/3 of property's zonal value and it took 12 years before we were paid by the government and she was one of the causes of the delay. and the money paid to us by the government was used to pay for debts incurred because of my mother's illness (8 yrs bedridden) and subsequent death. I do not want to pay because it does not seem right for me to pay for a house which never became ours, built in our property which was subsequently awarded to her family and the other 13 informal settlers' families living there (for 1/3 the amount of the we should have been paid), and the fact that she already benefited from the rent she earned for 7 years. do I have a chance because she have a letter in my handwriting and signature saying that we will pay, which was signed in good faith not knowing the circumstances of the house when I signed the letter? Thanks!

with that letter, to my mind, you should pay. it constitutes an obligation and a contract particularly if there is anything in return. the law will not rescue you from your mistakes.

perhaps the court will temper the amount of damages given the circumstances. does the letter state the amount? if not, argue that what she was asking was too much.