Intent to sell property...but with tenant

hi everyone...need advise on my family's intention to sell our old apartment for rent. my father died just last nov 2012 but before that he was already contemplating on selling his property. our problem now is the tenant renting our apartment. they are actually our tenants for more than 40 years and we all grew up together so there's no bad blood between us. anyways, we're already talking to some prospective buyers so my mom informed them verbally already that the apartment will be sold and that they would need to look for another place to stay. i told my family that we should give them about 1-2 months to look for another place. the thing is the tenant wouldn't want to leave and is even asking for compensation. isn't the verbal notice enough for them to vacate the premises? or should we put that in writing? i wouldn't want to burn bridges with them since as i mentioned we all practically grew together. but their father is even asking for P100K for them to leave the apartment. what should we do?

i've been surfing the net and came across R.A. 9341, under Sec. 8 it states: "Prohibition Against Ejectment by Reason of Sale or Mortgage. - No lessor or his successor-in-interest shall be entitled to eject the lessee upon the ground that the leased premises have been sold or mortgaged to a third person regardless of whether the lease or mortgage is registered or not."

my initial understanding of this is that we cannot sell our property unless the tenant leaves by their own free will. is there somebody out there who has a more logical explanation on this clause? appreciate if someone will comment on this topic. thanks!

You can sell the property but you have to offer it to the lessee. this is the right of first refusal. if the lessee did not exercise this for a period of 1 year or he is not interested or abandoned the offer, you can dispose the property at your own will. Now after a year, you have to wait till the lessee left the property (because the offer is still valid for one year) only then you can sell it to other person or third party.

if the lessee opts to stay after a year and he continues to pay, just tell him that the property has been sold and if he objects, you can file an action for unlawful detainer/forcible entry.

thank you for the reply...we'll take note of this.