Santos Vs Moreno

Santos vs.
Moreno
21 SCRA 1141
December 4, 1967
Petitioner-Appellee: Roman R. Santos

Respondents-appellant: Hon. Florencio Moreno – Secretary of Public Works and
Communications and Julian C. Cargullo
Ponente: Bengzon, J. P. J.
Facts:
The Zobel family of Spain formerly owned vast track of marshland in the municipality of
Macabebe, Pampanga province. Called Hacienda San Esteban, it was administered and managed
by the Ayala y Cia. From the year 1860 to about the year 1924 Ayala y Cia., devoted the hacienda
to the planting and cultivation of nipa palms from which it gathered nipa sap or "tuba." It
operated a distillery plant in barrio San Esteban to turn nipa tuba into potable alcohol, which was
in turn manufactured into liquor. Accessibility through the nipa palms deep into the hacienda
posed a problem. Ayala y Cia., therefore dug canals leading towards the hacienda's interior where
most of them interlinked with each other. The canals facilitated the gathering of tuba and the
guarding and patrolling of the hacienda by security guards called "arundines." By the gradual
process of erosion these canals acquired the characteristics and dimensions of rivers.
In 1924 Ayala y Cia shifted from the business of alcohol production to bangus culture. It
converted Hacienda San Esteban from a forest of nipa groves to a web of fishponds. To do so, it
cut down the nipa palm, constructed dikes and closed the canals criss-crossing the hacienda.
Sometime in 1925 or 1926 Ayala y Cia., sold a portion of Hacienda San Esteban to Roman Santos
who also transformed the swamp land into a fishpond. In so doing, he closed and built dikes
across Sapang Malauling Maragul, Quiñorang Silab, Pepangebunan, Bulacus, Nigui and Nasi. The
closing of the man-made canals in Hacienda San Esteban drew complaints from residents of the
surrounding communities. Claiming that the closing of the canals caused floods during the rainy
season, and that it deprived them of their means of transportation and fishing grounds, said
residents demanded re-opening of those canals. Subsequently, Mayor Lazaro Yambao of
Macabebe, accompanied by policemen and some residents went to Hacienda San Esteban and
opened the closure dikes at Sapang Malauling Maragul Nigui and Quiñorang Silab. Whereupon,
Roman Santos filed Civil Case No. 4488 in the Court of First Instance of Pampanga which
preliminarily enjoined Mayor Yambao and others from demolishing the dikes across the canals.
The municipal officials of Macabebe countered by filing a complaint (docketed as Civil Case No.
4527) in the same court. The Pampanga Court of First Instance rendered judgment in both cases
against Roman Santos who immediately elevated the case to the Supreme Court.
ISSUE
Do the streams involved in this case belong to the public domain or to the owner of Hacienda
San Esteban according to law and the evidence submitted to the Department of Public Works
and Communications?
HELD
A private person may take possession of a watercourse if he constructed the same within his
property. One and all, the evidence, oral and documentary, presented by Roman Santos in the
administrative proceedings supports the conclusion of the lower court that the streams involved
in this case were originally man-made canals constructed by the former owners of Hacienda San
Esteban and that said streams were not held open for public use. This same conclusion was
reached 27 years earlier by an investigator of the Bureau of Public Works whose report and
recommendations were approved by the Director of Public Works and submitted to the Secretary
of Commerce and Communications. The streams in question were artificially made, hence of
private ownership.
Pursuant to Article 71 of the Spanish Law of Waters of August 3, 1866, and Article 408(5) of the
Spanish Civil Code, channels of creeks and brooks belong to the owners of estates over which
they flow. The channels, therefore, of the streams in question, which may be classified creeks,
belong to the owners of Hacienda San Esteban. With the exception of Sapang Cansusu, being a
natural stream and a continuation of the Cansusu River, admittedly a public stream, belongs to
the public domain. Its closure therefore by the predecessors of Roman Santos was illegal.
All the other streams, being artificial and devoted exclusively for the use of the hacienda owner
and his personnel, are declared of private ownership. Hence, the dams across them should not
he ordered demolished as public nuisances.

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Santos vs.

Petitioner-Appellee: Roman R. Santos

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