Philippine Irrigation Act of 1912 on Water Rights

Priority, preference order, and loss rules

Section 3 states that priority of appropriation determines the better right between two or more persons using the same public waters.
Section 3 extinguishes any claim of priority if the claimant is a nonuser for a period of five years, unless the nonuse is caused by force majeure.
Section 3 provides that when waters are insufficient for all desirous users and priority cannot be established, the order of preference is:
- (a) Domestic purposes.
- (b) Agricultural purposes or power development for agricultural purposes.
- (c) Industrial purposes.
- (d) Ponds for fisheries.
- (e) Mining purposes or milling connected with mining purposes.

Water disputes, appeals, and proceedings

Section 4 requires any controversy between persons claiming rights to use water of any stream to be submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Police through the Director of Public Works, and his decision is final unless appealed.
Section 4 requires any appeal to be taken to the proper court within thirty days from notification of the decision.
Section 4 directs that in case of appeal, the court shall try the controversy de novo.
Section 8 authorizes the Director of Public Works (or authorized officials) conducting investigations to examine witnesses under oath, take affidavits, and not be obliged to follow strictly ordinary rules of evidence, while hearing witnesses fully and equitably.
Section 10 provides that appeals from certain Director of Public Works determinations (as approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Police) lie to the Court of First Instance of the province where the property is situated.
Section 10 requires the action to be brought within ninety days after termination of publication of the approved list of priorities.
Section 10 allows the court to employ a hydraulic engineer or other expert to examine and report under oath, with the cost equitably apportioned as costs.

Public notice, sworn claims, and priority lists

Section 5 requires the Director of Public Works to prepare, as soon as practicable, a list of appropriations according to priority for streams designated by the Secretary of Commerce and Police, based on investigations and public claims.
Section 5 requires a public notice to be posted in each affected municipality and in other advisable places, and requires the notice to state:
- The information sought from claimants.
- A filing deadline for receiving claims that is at least six months after the notice.
- The conditions for presenting claims.
- Any further facts deemed necessary.
Section 5 requires the Director of Public Works to send each known claimant a blank form to set out written particulars showing:
- Amounts and dates of appropriations claimed.
- The priority-rank facts and legal basis.
Section 5 requires sworn certification of claims by claimants; it authorizes any officer empowered to administer oaths to administer the oath.
Section 5 exempts oath charges when administered by an Insular, provincial, or municipal government officer authorized to administer oaths.
Section 6 requires the Director’s notice accompanying the blank form to state the statement must be presented within thirty days from receipt of the notice.
Section 6 provides that failure to file the sworn statement within six months after notice, upon complaint of the Director of Public Works, results in forfeiture of the claim.
Section 6 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce and Police to extend the filing period for sufficient cause, in his discretion, by up to six months.

Stream examinations, maps, and recording systems

Section 7 requires the Director of Public Works, as soon as practicable, to examine the stream and diversion works, including:
- Measurements of discharge.
- Carrying capacity of ditches and canals.
- Examination of irrigated lands.
- Approximate measurement of lands irrigable from each works system.
Section 7 requires observations and measurements to be reduced to writing and made official record in the Director’s office.
Section 7 requires the Director of Public Works to make a map or plat showing:
- Course of the stream.
- Location of each dam, ditch, or canal diverting water.
- Divisions and subdivisions of lands irrigated or susceptible of irrigation.

Publication, certificates, recording, and loss for unpaid fees

Section 9 requires the Secretary of Commerce and Police, upon approval of the list of priorities, to publish the approved list in the manner provided in Section 5.
Section 9 requires the published notice to show for each appropriation:
- (a) Name and post-office address of the appropriator.
- (b) Priority number.
- (c) Amount of prior appropriations.
- (d) Amount of water the appropriator is entitled to.
- (e) For irrigation: description of legal subdivisions of lands to be diverted.
Section 9 requires the Director of Public Works to issue each appropriator represented in the list a certificate signed by the Secretary, setting forth the information in items (a)–(e).
Section 9 directs that the certificate be transmitted by registered mail to the register of deeds of the province where the appropriation was made, with the register required to record in a book specially prepared for the purpose and immediately transmit the record to the appropriator.
Section 9 requires further transmittal to the register of deeds of the province where water will be used when diversion and use provinces differ, with proper recording after proper procedure.
Section 9 imposes a strict consequence: if the recording fee is not paid within one year after receipt of notice from the Director of Public Works, the claimant loses all right to the priority established in this section.

Apportionment of water and irrigators’ association

Section 11 requires the Director of Public Works to apportion the waters of a stream to appropriators according to their respective rights and give notice of apportionment to all interested persons by registered mail according to the approved and finally recorded list, or as corrected by court judgment.
Section 12 permits appropriators, after final approval of the list, to form an irrigators’ association at the desire of the majority of appropriators in any system to maintain and operate the system.
Section 12 requires the president(s) of the municipality or municipalities where the lands under a system are located, upon request of three or more appropriators, to call a meeting of all acknowledged appropriators to perfect the association.
Section 12 grants the association these powers:
- (a) Appoint a caretaker for preservation and equitable water apportionment according to the recorded list and adjustment of controversies, subject to appeal to the Secretary of Commerce and Police within times and manners set by regulations.
- (b) Issue necessary regulations for preservation, administration, and operation, subject to prior approval by the Secretary of Commerce and Police through the Director of Public Works; if the Secretary makes no objection within sixty days, the regulations enter into force as if approved.
- (c) Compel members to contribute proportionally to benefits toward costs, through the manner established in regulations.
- (d) Elect annually a president representing the association, who acts as ex officio treasurer collecting assessments, furnishing a bond in the amount fixed by regulations, and executing resolutions; the president has no compensation unless expressly provided in regulations.
- (e) Incorporate in accordance with Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine titled “The Corporation Act.”
Section 12 fixes compensation structure: caretaker receives emoluments fixed by regulations; president is not entitled to compensation unless regulations provide.

Government administration when no association forms

Section 13 provides that when appropriators fail to organize under Section 12, system administration is temporarily handled as follows:
- (a) Municipal council if the system affects one municipality.
- (b) Provincial board if it affects two or more municipalities in a province.
- (c) Director of Public Works if it affects two or more provinces.
Section 13 requires regulations on administration, use, and distribution of waters to be previously approved by the Irrigation Council and requires that all persons interested be given a hearing during preparation.
Section 13 makes the cost of administration a lien upon crops first, and second upon land of water users and ditch owners according to distributions shown by accounts of the administering body, based on quantity of water consumed proportionate to total quantity delivered.
Section 13 requires administration expenses before expiration of each agricultural year to be advanced by the municipality or province, or by the Director of Public Works out of the irrigation fund, and reimbursed at four per centum interest at the end of each year.
Section 13 authorizes the Director of Public Works to administer systems when municipalities or provincial boards lack funds, for the time needed until advanced funds are paid from the Insular Treasury.
Section 13 provides that municipal and provincial treasurers collect charges after each harvest completion as delegates of the Director of Public Works.
Section 13 gives the lien preference over all other liens except:
- liens for taxes on the land, and
- any mortgage lien in favor of the Philippine Agricultural Bank.
Section 13 requires that the preferred lien not be removed until all charges are paid or the property is sold for payment.
Section 13 requires foreclosure-like proceedings within one year after default of an installment on any parcel:
- the responsible authority files a list of default lands with the clerk of the Court of First Instance,
- the clerk publishes a list with notice requiring owners to file an answer within thirty days after completion of publication,
- if owners fail to answer, judgment is entered and lands (or necessary portions) are sold after ten days public notice at public auction by the sheriff to satisfy the preferred lien.
Section 13 gives redemption: any excess over lien and procedure cost is returned, and the owner has one year thereafter to redeem by paying the judgment amount and costs with interest at six per centum.
Section 13 provides for exceptional maintenance-cost handling: if maintenance in a year exceeds fifty per centum of net profits, the exceptional cost is distributed equitably over two or more years, but not more than five.
Section 13 orders crop execution first when a crop is unharvested at lien execution time.
Section 13 requires regulations to consider local customs and usages and fixes one day annually for a meeting of interested persons to prepare an estimate of next year’s expenditures.

Appropriations: applications, publications, approvals

Section 14 requires any person desiring to appropriate public water to file an application with the Secretary of Commerce and Police through the Director of Public Works before performing any work.
Section 14 requires the application to state:
- (a) Name and post-office address of the applicant.
- (b) Source of the appropriation.
- (c) Place or site of diversion.
- (d) Approximate amount to be diverted.
- (e) Description of proposed work.
- (f) Purpose or object.
- (g) If for irrigation: description of land and area, and additional facts required by the Secretary.
Section 14 requires the Director of Public Works to record the application upon receipt and examine it to ascertain if it contains all facts needed to determine nature and amount.
Section 14 directs the Director to point out defects if the application is defective and return it for correction, and allows sixty days after receipt by the applicant for refiling.
Section 14 grants priority dating: if refiled in corrected form within the allowed sixty days, the application takes priority as of the date of original filing, subject to law and regulations.
Section 14 prohibits the applicant from performing any work for water use prior to approval of the application.
Section 15 requires the Director of Public Works, after original or corrected application, to publish a notice:
- once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in relevant provinces,
- and also post the notice in English, Spanish, and local dialect for four weeks at usual posting places in affected municipalities,
- and publish by bandillos or public criers once a week.
Section 15 requires publication to include, at minimum, the information from Section 14 under items (b)–(g) plus the applicant name and filing date.
Section 15 requires that any interested person may object and file a written protest with reasons within a period fixed by the Director of Public Works that must be not less than thirty days and not more than sixty days beginning with the last day of newspaper publication.
Section 15 directs the Director to investigate objections and appropriation, take testimony if necessary under Section 8, and report to the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
Section 15 provides that the Secretary’s decision is appealable under Section 4.
Section 15 preserves prior rights even if protests are not filed: failure to protest does not work to the detriment of prior rights to appropriation or water use.
Section 16 requires the Secretary, through the Director, to deny applications in writing if there is no unappropriated water in the source, to file a record of the denial, to return the denied application, and to prevent the applicant from prosecuting work under the application.
Section 16 makes unauthorized work after denial punishable as a misdemeanor.
Section 16 requires referral of applications when the source is a navigable stream to the Director of Navigation, whose return with recommendations is required.
Section 16 requires approval when unappropriated water exists, the appropriation is not detrimental to the public, and the Secretary indorses approval and returns the application to the applicant to authorize measures needed to perfect the appropriation.
Section 16 authorizes limited-right approval: if supply is insufficient for the total amount applied for, the Secretary may approve a lesser amount.
Section 17 requires duplicate submission of approved working plans and specifications for approval before any work begins, and prohibits any work except in accordance with the approved plans.
Section 17 authorizes the Director to examine and inspect works during construction and order changes or alterations for security of the work and safeguarding life, property, and public interest.
Section 17 prohibits turning water into works until Director approval is secured.
Section 17 imposes misdemeanor liability for noncompliance.
Section 17 provides an irrigation-specific exemption from plan and specification submission for small appropriations to irrigate land not in excess of sixteen hectares.
Section 18 requires issuance of a certificate upon approval of completed works, signed by the Secretary of Commerce and Police, stating the applicant name, date, source, purpose, amount, and (if irrigation) lands irrigated.
Section 18 requires recording within one year in:
- the province where diversion is located, and
- the province where the water is used, in the same manner as required for certificates under Section 9.
Section 18 establishes priority for the new appropriation from the date of filing the application in the Director’s office.

Inspections, regulations, and measurement

Section 19 authorizes the Director of Public Works to inspect all works for diversion, carriage, storage, apportioning, measurement, and any works pertaining to water use in the Philippines, and to make and enforce regulations subject to Secretary approval for conservation and preservation of public interest.
Section 38 establishes measurement standards:
- flow measured as liter per second,
- volume measured as hectare-meter (water required to cover one hectare one meter in depth).
Section 39 allows parties entitled to use water to reclaim and divert water below when they turn water into a natural or artificial course or reservoir, subject to existing rights and due allowances for losses as determined by the Director of Public Works.

Irrigation power and rental system

Section 20 requires power-purpose applications to include, in addition to Section 14 requirements:
- (a) Point of restoration.
- (b) Amount of power proposed to develop.
- (c) Probable amount of power available at mean low water between diversion and restoration points.
Section 20 divides power appropriations into two classes:
- “small developments” for less than one hundred horsepower,
- “large developments” for one hundred horsepower or over.
Section 21 imposes project time limits:
- small developments: one year to complete surveys and designs and begin actual construction; construction completed within three years from approval.
- large developments: two years to complete surveys and designs and begin construction; construction completed within five years from approval.
Section 21 authorizes Secretary extension for good cause shown; and it declares that failure to comply makes the appropriation null and void except where failure is due to fortuitous cause or force majeure, in which case the Secretary may extend completion time as necessary.
Section 22 establishes annual rental for power appropriators:
- small developments: twenty-five centavos per horsepower for first ten years, starting January 1 after plant is ready for operation; thereafter one peso per horsepower per year; development under thirty horsepower is exempt from rental.
- large developments: fifty centavos per horsepower for first ten years, starting January 1 after plant is ready for operation; after the first ten years and each subsequent ten-year period, the Secretary determines the rate for the succeeding ten years, but the rate must never be less than one peso and never more than two pesos per horsepower per year.
Section 22 sets the basis for rental-charged water:
- normal rated water capacity of the power water wheels expressed in second-liters multiplied by the difference in level expressed in meters between forebay and tailrace, divided by one hundred, where the quotient is developed horsepower on 76% efficiency basis.
Section 23 requires rental payment at times and in the manner directed by the Secretary, collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue as a general tax.
Section 23 provides that nonpayment when due creates a lien upon the right of use of water and all works, lands, buildings, and machinery appurtenant thereto, enforceable under Section 13.
Section 24 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce and Police (with irrigation and police) to authorize power plant construction and operation on irrigation canals or systems by the Government or any person, on terms and conditions the Secretary prescribes.
Section 25 requires public notice when the Government construction of an irrigation project is advisable, including:
- land irrigable under the project,
- approximate annual charge per hectare to cover construction cost,
- number of annual installments (not less than twenty nor more than forty),
- estimated approximate annual maintenance and operation cost,
- statement protests may be filed with the Governor-General within ninety days after completion of publication.
Section 25 requires filing a map at municipal secretary offices at the beginning of publication, open to public inspection.
Section 25 requires weekly publication once a week for four consecutive weeks in newspapers designated for official notices, plus posting and bandillos/public criers once a week.
Section 26 provides that owners of irrigable land may file objections with the Governor-General within ninety days, through the Director of Public Works and the Secretary of Commerce and Police, covering inclusion of land, estimated charges, or installment number.
Section 26 requires the Governor-General to refer objections to the provincial board for report and recommendation after hearing the interested persons.
Section 26 makes the Governor-General’s decision final, but prohibits construction if within the ninety-day period objections are filed by owners of one-half of the irrigable land or three-fourths of the owners of such land.

Government irrigation projects and installment charges

Section 27 requires that after favorable Governor-General decision, the Secretary of Commerce and Police authorizes construction using the procedure in Section six of Act Numbered Five hundred and eighty-four for public works, with preference given to occupants of the land for awarding construction contracts when other things are equal.
Section 28 allows persons interested to apply for Government aid for self-construction, subject to Secretary-imposed regulations and conditions to safeguard Government interests, with funding limits:
- Government funds granted cannot exceed forty per centum of estimated project cost.
- Total amount granted for any one project cannot exceed fifty thousand pesos.
Section 28 extends benefits to inferior land not included in the designated irrigable zone under conditions:
- inferior land owners are entitled to benefited additional supply,
- they must pay proportional shares of administration charges,
- system rights must not be injured, and necessary concessions may be made.
Section 29 requires a second public notice after completion of construction or sufficient part, posted and published like Section 15, announcing:
- (a) irrigable land (or part),
- (b) annual charge per hectare to cover construction costs with interest, with annual uniformity and calculation to repay all costs with interest at four per centum per annum over a period of not less than twenty nor more than forty years,
- (c) conditions of payment,
- (d) time of payments,
- (e) date of official test of the system in presence of interested persons.
Section 29 requires that construction charge repay actual construction cost with four per centum interest.
Section 29 states that an unpaid installment payable on a parcel becomes a lien against the land, enforceable under Section 13.
Section 30 authorizes time extensions for annual installment payments when crop failure occurs due to water shortage or other fortuitous events.

Insurance fund and calamity repair

Section 31 requires that if Government-constructed irrigation works are damaged or destroyed by earthquake, fire, lightning, flood, tornado, typhoon, hurricane, war, or other fortuitous event or force majeure, the works shall be repaired or reconstructed with approval of the Governor-General from an insurance fund, and reconstruction cost shall not be charged against appropriators.
Section 31 authorizes creation and maintenance of an irrigation insurance fund:
- The Secretary instructs the Director yearly to add up to two per centum of the annual payment due from each landowner for construction, maintenance, and operation,
- collect it as part of regular annual payment,
- remit to the Insular Treasury and set aside as a special fund called “irrigation instance fund.”
Section 31 requires the fund to be invested/reinvested as authorized by the Secretary, including in financial transactions related to irrigation proceedings and in the same manner and under the same conditions as other trust funds.
Section 31 limits collections when the fund exceeds two hundred thousand pesos: collections stop until expenditures authorized reduce the fund below one hundred and fifty thousand pesos.
Section 32 requires Government administration of irrigation works for landowners’ benefit, with transfer to irrigation communities upon organization after final reimbursement and, even before final reimbursement, upon payment of unpaid differences, subject to Irrigation Council decision and approval of the Legislature.
Section 32 provides that if the Legislature session passes without either House action, the Irrigation Council decision becomes final.
Section 33 directs that when Government retains administration, the Director of Public Works administers under regulations approved by the Secretary.
Section 33 provides that operation and administration expenses are a lien on water users’ land collected as in Section 13.
Section 33 requires that complaints among water consumers be determined by the Director under regulations, with appeal to the Secretary within ninety days from publication of decision, and the Secretary decision is appealable to the Court of First Instance under Section 4 timing and manner.

Transfers, appurtenance, and continued priority

Section 40 provides that the right to use water for irrigation remains appurtenant to the land for which it is established.
Section 40 allows severance and transfer when beneficial or economic use becomes impracticable: all or part of the right may be severed from the land and transferred to other land without losing priority, subject to no detriment to existing rights.
Section 40 requires appropriators desiring transfer to apply through the Director to the Secretary.
Section 40 requires notice of the application publication under Section 15.
Section 40 requires the Secretary to approve the transfer and issue certificates if no detriment to existing rights appears, and requires recording of certificates as provided in Section 9.

Safety, measuring devices, and modification limits

Section 42 requires ditch owners, upon Director order, to construct and maintain a substantial head gate and install measuring devices for measuring and apportioning water in accordance with approved designs, at the most practicable points determined by the Director.
Section 42 provides a completion deadline of ninety days after receipt of the Director’s order:
- if not completed within that period, the Director may refuse to deliver water or may extend time.
Section 42 makes taking water after refusal until completion and approval of the