Case Digest (G.R. No. L-4827)
Facts:
Gerardo D. Abe-Abe et al. v. Judge Luis D. Manta and Pedro P. Romualdo, G.R. No. L-48827, May 31, 1979, Supreme Court Second Division, Aquino, J., writing for the Court.The petitioners are one hundred thirty-seven farmers and riceland owners who on August 20, 1976 filed an injunction suit in the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Camiguin against Pedro P. Romualdo (and named Judge Luis D. Manta as respondent by virtue of his judicial capacity). They sought a judicial declaration of their alleged prior vested rights under Article 504 of the Civil Code to use the waters of the Anibungan (Inobongan), Ablay and Tajong creeks for irrigation of upstream ricelands in Barrios Lumad and Baylao, Mambajao, Camiguin, and an injunction restraining Romualdo from diverting those waters at night to irrigate his downstream two-hectare farm.
According to the petitioners, their communal use of the creeks dated from 1938; after a volcanic eruption (circa 1952) the streams were channeled into a single conduit and two diversion dams were constructed with assistance from the municipal government and the Presidential Arm on Community Development, with later improvements allegedly aided by the National Irrigation Administration. In July 1976 Romualdo began opening the diversion dams at night to irrigate his land, conduct which the petitioners claimed prejudiced their upstream uses.
Romualdo answered asserting, among other defenses, that the parties had agreed at a July 29, 1976 conference to a rotation scheme (petitioners by day, downstream users by night) and that he had filed a water permit application on June 21, 1976 in conformity with Presidential Decree No. 424; the regional director of the Bureau of Public Works issued him a temporary authority on October 5, 1976. Romualdo also invoked administrative remedies, contending that controversies over water rights are for the National Water Resources Council (NWRC) under Presidential Decree No. 424 and later under the Water Code (Presidential Decree No. 1067), and that petitioners had not filed the required permits.
The trial court initially issued an order (February 11, 1977) enjoining Romualdo after the NWRC executive director cancelled Romualdo’s temporary permit on January 14, 1977. Meanwhile, Presidential Decree No. 1067 (the Water Code) was promulgated on December 31, 1976. Romualdo successfully moved to dismiss the injunction suit on the ground that the CFI lacked jurisdiction because the NWRC had exclusive original competence and the petitioners had not exhausted administrative remedies; the CFI dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction and nonexhaustion of administrative remedies in an order dated July 18, 1977.
Instead of seeking direct appeal to the Court under Republic Act No. 5440, the petitioners filed a petition for certiorari in the Court of...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of First Instance of Camiguin lack jurisdiction because the petitioners failed to exhaust administrative remedies and the National Water Resources Council has original and exclusive jurisdiction over water-rights disputes?
- Were the petitioners’ claimed prescriptive water rights under Article 504 of the Civil Code displaced or modified by Presidential Decree No. 424 and the Water Co...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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