Haystack: Bautista v. Alarcon (GR 8153, 24 December 1912)

Bautista v. Alarcon
[G.R. No. 8153. December 24, 1912.]
First Division, Torres (J): 4 concur, 2 concur in result.

Facts: Toribio Bautista was the owner of a tract of land, used as a fishpond in the barrio of Pangjolo and the sitio called Talinducan, of the pueblo of Obando, Bulacan (N: fishery of Julian Santos; S: Cornelio Enriquez and Benito Enriquez, E: Talinducan River; W: fisheries of Toribio Alarcon and Julian Santos, and a canal or ditch which is between these fisheries). Bautista’s fishpond is formed by two parcels of land, one low and the other high, and is divided into two separate fisheries, although together they are supplied with water, the low land from the Talinducan River, and the high land from the said canal or ditch which, in its western part, is connected with and derived from the Obando River, terminating at Bautista's fishpond and serving as a boundary line between Alarcon’s and Santos’ fisheries. Said ditch had existed for more than 50 years and had a width of about 6 meters. The bed of the said ditch or canal was not owned by neither Alarcon and Bautista. On October 1907, Alarcon and Santos occupied said ditch, constructed thereon the retaining walls of their respective fisheries, in such manner that they narrowed and reduced the bed of the ditch to an approximate width of 25 centimeters, thus obstructing and almost completely preventing the passage of the water, on which account the plaintiff's fishery on the high land had been almost entirely deprived or water. By written instrument of 10 April 1908, Bautista filed a complaint against Alarcon and Santos with a prayer for a preliminary injunction. After the filing of the complaint, Alarcon and Santos closed the canal completely and rendered Bautista’s fishery completely dry. On 25 February 1909, the preliminary injunction was issued by the court. On 21 June 1911, the lower court ordered that the injunction become final and ordered Alarcon and Santos to cease occupying the tracts specified in the judgment (adjacent to the canal or ditch), to remove their respective dikes, and to pay Bautista P100 and the costs of the suit. Alarcon and Teodoro Raymundo, in substitution of Santos, appealed through a bill of exceptions.

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment appealed from, with the costs against the Alarcon and Raymundo.

1. Property of public ownership
Article 339, No. 1, of the Civil Code provides that "property of public ownership is (1) that destined to the public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports, and bridges constructed by the State, and banks, shores, roadsteads, and that of a similar character." Article 407 of the same code provides that "(1) Rivers and their natural beds. (2) Continuous or intermittent waters from springs or brooks running in their natural beds and the said beds. (3) Waters using continuously or intermittently in lands of said public ownership. (4) Lakes and ponds formed by nature on public lands and their beds. (5) Rain water running through ravines or sandy beaches, the beds of which shall also be public property" are property of public ownership.

2. Law provisions applicable to the present case
The provisions of Articles 339 (1) and 407 substantially agree with those of the Law of Waters of 3 August 1866, made applicable to these Islands by the Spanish Government and published in the Gaceta de Manila of 24 September 1871, as is shown by the text of articles 33, 36, 37, 39, 72, and others relevant to the matter under discussion.

3. No private person has the right to usurp possession of a watercourse belonging to the public domain
No private person has a right to usurp possession of a watercourse, branch of a river, or lake of the public domain and use, unless it shall have been proved that he constructed the same within property of his exclusive ownership, and such usurpation constitutes a violation of the legal provisions which explicitly exclude such waterways from the exclusive use or possession of a private party.

4. Canal, together with its water, is a property of public use and not susceptible of private appropriation
The canal, together with the water that flows through it, drawn from the Obando River, belongs to that class of property of public use and domain which is not susceptible of private appropriation, and, therefore, private parties could not, under any circumstances, usurp the greater portion of it without committing a notorious and glaring violation of the law that protects the properties of the State and the rights of its citizens. Both parties are entitled to utilize, for the needs and benefit of their fisheries, the water which flows from the Obando River into the said canal, but none of them may utilize and receive such water exclusively and to the detriment of the rest, as did Alarcon and Santos by reducing the bed of the canal, thereby almost depriving Bautista of the quantity of water necessary for the maintenance of his fishery.

5. No proof adduced that Alarcon and Santos are owners of the canal
Alarcon and Santos have not adduced any proof whatever that they are the owners of the canal, to allow them to reduce the volume of the flow by constructing, near the middle of the canal, the dikes of their respective fisheries. Neither have they adduced any proof whatever that they are the owners of the right to an easement for conveying water, which was acquired by Bautista through prescription for a period of more than 40 years, as is demonstrated by the record.

6. Alarcon and Santos liable for damages
Alarcon and Santos, the latter through Raymundo, are jointly obligated to indemnify Bautista for the losses and damages which they occasioned him by the construction of their fishery dikes and the reduction of the capacity of the said canal, in the amount fixed by the trial court in the judgment appealed from, the findings of which are approved, as they are in accordance with law.

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