Professional Documents
Culture Documents
*
No. L-37409. May 23, 1988.
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* FIRST DIVISION.
399
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GRIO-AQUINO, J.:
applied for water rights for his land in 1956 and obtained
the same in 1958; and that he had a perfect right to level
his land for his own use because he merely allowed his
sister to use his water rights when she still owned the
adjacent land. He set up a counterclaim for P3,000 as
damages incurred by him in levelling the land on which the
appellant dug an irrigation canal, P2,000 as actual
damages, P3,000 as attorneys fees, and expenses of
litigation.
In a decision dated April 21,1966, the trial court held
that the plaintiff had no right to pass through the
defendants land to draw water from the Pampanga River.
It pointed out that under Section 4 of the Irrigation Law,
controversies between persons claiming a right to water
from a stream are within the jurisdiction of the Secretary
of Public Works and his decision on the matter is final,
unless an appeal is taken to the proper court within thirty
days. The court may not pass upon the validity of the
decision of the Public Works Secretary collaterally.
Furthermore, there was nothing in the plaintiffs evidence
to show that the resolution was not valid. It dismissed the
complaint and counterclaim.
The plaintiffs motion for reconsideration of the decision
was denied by the trial court. The plaintiff appealed to the
Court of Appeals which certified the case to Us upon the
legal question of whether the provisions of the Irrigation
Act (Act No. 2152) or those of the Civil Code should apply
to this case.
The plaintiff-appellant argues that while the trial court
correctly held that the Secretary of Public Works may
legally decide who between the parties is entitled to apply
for water rights under the Irrigation Act, it erred in ruling
that the Secretary has authority to hear and decide the
plaintiffs claim for damages for the defendants violation of
his (plaintiffs) right to continue to enjoy the easement of
aqueduct or water through the defendants land under
Articles 642, 643, and 646 of the Civil Code, which provide:
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Article 642. Any person who may wish to use upon his own estate
any water of which he can dispose shall have the right to make it
flow through the interventing estates, with the obligation to
indemnify their owners, as well as the owners of the lower estates
upon which the waters may filter or descend.
Article 643. One desiring to make use of the right granted in
402
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