FACTS:
Six class suits were instituted against the City
Engineer of Manila to enjoin him from carrying out his threat to demolish the
houses of petitioners upon the ground that said houses constitute public
nuisances. In due course, the Court of First Instance of Manila rendered
separate, but substantially identical, decisions adverse to the petitioners,
who have appealed therefrom directly to the Supreme Court.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the petitioners' houses are
nuisance and should be demolished.
DECISION:
The petitioners’ houses constructed without
government authority on public streets constitutes a nuisance which justifies
the demolition. Section 31 of Republic Act No. 409, the Revised Charter of the
City of Manila grants the city engineer such powers that include demolition of
building considered as nuisance to the public. Moreover, Section 1122 of the
Revised Ordinance of the City of Manila (No. 1600) explicitly authorizes the
action sought to be taken by respondent herein, by providing: “Whenever the owner
or person responsible for any unauthorized obstruction shall, after official
notice from the proper department, refuse or neglect to remove the same within
a reasonable time, such obstruction shall be deemed a public nuisance, and the
city engineer is authorized to remove the same at the owner’s expense.”
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