G.R. No. L-45931; April 14, 1939
URBANO SERRANO, petitioner-appellant, vs. VICENTE DE LA CRUZ, Under-Secretary of Public Works and Communications, respondent-appellee.

FACTS

Petitioner Urbano Serrano constructed a dam across the Potrero river in Bacolor, Pampanga, ten years prior, based on permission from municipal authorities. He used the water for irrigating his and adjacent lands. Respondent Under-Secretary Vicente de la Cruz, after an investigation prompted by a complaint, ordered the dam’s removal. Serrano filed an action to stop the order or claim damages, arguing he acquired an easement through more than ten years of continuous use and that the respondent acted in excess of authority. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the complaint, dismissing the case for failure to state a cause of action.

ISSUE

Whether the amended complaint alleges sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action, either to restrain the execution of the removal order or to claim damages.

RULING

No. The demurrer was correctly sustained. Serrano’s claim of a right to use the water is invalid. First, the permission from municipal authorities was void because the exclusive power to grant water appropriations under the then-effective Irrigation Act ( Act No. 2152 ) was vested in the Secretary of Commerce and Police (later the Secretary of Public Works and Communications), upon recommendation of the Irrigation Council. Second, he did not acquire a prescriptive right, as the required period for prescription of the use of public waters is twenty years, not ten, under the Civil Code and the Law of Waters. Since Serrano had no valid right to the water use, his contingent claim for damages necessarily fails. The order of dismissal is affirmed.

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