GR L 3144; (November, 1907) (Digest)
G.R. No. L‑3144
November 19, 1907
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FACTS
– Plaintiff: Carmen Ayala de Roxas, owner of a parcel on Escolta, Binondo, Manila, including a 3‑meter strip (23.50 m long) between her house’s rear wall and the San Jacinto (Sibacon) Canal.
– Defendants: City of Manila and its City Engineer, Robert G. Dieck.
– On 15 Jan 1906 the plaintiff applied to Engineer Dieck for a license to erect a terrace over the 3‑meter strip, which she claimed was part of her exclusive ownership.
– The license was denied; a similar petition to the Municipal Board on 30 Jan 1906 was also refused.
– The denial was allegedly because the city intended to reserve the strip for public use (wharf, navigation, tow‑path, fishing, salvage) under the Law of Waters and related ordinances (e.g., Ordinance No. 78).
– The strip had been occupied by a two‑storey building for over seventy years; it had never been expropriated nor compensated.
– Plaintiff sued for a declaration that the city could not deprive her of the exclusive use of the strip without due process and indemnification.
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ISSUE
Whether the City of Manila, by refusing the construction license and effectively imposing a public easement over the 3‑meter strip, unlawfully infringed the plaintiff’s ownership rights without the due process of law and without prior indemnification required by the Law of Waters and the Civil Code.
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RULING
– The Court held that a public‑use easement (for navigation, flotation, fishing, salvage, tow‑path) may be imposed only after the owner is indemnified (Arts. 73, 160‑164 of the Law of Waters; Civil Code).
– The city’s refusal to grant the license amounted to an unlawful obstruction of the plaintiff’s ownership, not a mere regulatory measure, and was without due process.
– No expropriation or compensation had been made; thus the city lacked authority to curtail the plaintiff’s exclusive possession.
– Under Sec. 222, Code of Civil Procedure, a peremptory mandamus is proper where no other adequate remedy exists.
Order: The defendants (City of Manila and Engineer Dieck) are directed to immediately issue the requested license allowing the plaintiff to construct the terrace on the 3‑meter strip, in accordance with the submitted plans, and to pay the costs of suit.
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Concurred by Justices Torres, Johnson, Carson, Willard, and Tracey.