FACTS:
The private respondent Antonio Cardenas was the
owner of two (2) contiguous parcels of land situated in Cebu City particularly
known as Lot 7501-A, with an area of 140 square meters and Lot 7501-B, with an
area of 612 square meters. On Lot 7501-A is constructed an apartment building,
while the improvements on Lot 7501-B consist of one four-door apartment of
concrete and strong materials; one two-storey house of strong materials; a
bodega of strong materials; and a septic tank for the common use of the
occupants of Lots 7501-A and 7501-B. A small portion of the apartment building
on Lot 7501-A also stands on Lot 7501-B.
On 5 February 1982, said Antonio Cardenas sold Lot
7501-A to herein petitioner Eduardo C. Tañedo. Antonio Cardenas, on that same
day, also mortgaged Lot 7501-B to said Eduardo C. Tañedo as a security for the
payment of a loan in the amount of P10, 000.00. Antonio Cardenas further agreed
that he would sell Lot 7501-B only to Eduardo Tañedo in case he should decide
to sell it, as the septic tank in Lot 7501-B services Lot 7501-A and the
apartment building on Lot 7501-A has a part standing on Lot 7501-B.
Antonio Cardenas, however, sold Lot 7501-B to the
herein respondent spouses Romeo and Pacita Sim. Upon learning of the sale, Eduardo
Tañedo offered to redeem the property from Romeo Sim. But the latter refused.
Instead, Romeo Sim blocked the sewage pipe connecting the building of Eduardo
Tañedo built on Lot 7501-A, to the septic tank in Lot 7501-B.
ISSUE:
Whether or not petitioner Tañedo’s right to
continue to use the septic tank, erected on Lot 7501-B, ceased upon the
subdivision of the land and its subsequent sale to different owners who do not
have the same interest.
DECISION:
The easement over the right to use the septic tank
was not extinguished when the land was subsequently sold to different owners. Article
631 of the Civil Code enumerates the grounds for the extinguishment of an
easement. The alienation of the dominant and servient estates to different
persons is not one of the grounds for the extinguishment of an easement. On the
contrary, use of the easement is continued by operation of law. Article 624 of
the Civil Code provides: "The existence of an apparent sign of easement
between two estates, established or maintained by the owner of both, shall be
considered, should either of them be alienated, as a title in order that the
easement may continue actively and passively, unless, at the time the ownership
of the two estates is divided, the contrary should be provided in the title of
conveyance of either of them, or the sign aforesaid should be removed before
the execution of the deed. This provision shall also apply in case of the
division of a thing owned in common by two or more persons." In the
instant case, no statement abolishing or extinguishing the easement of drainage
was mentioned in the deed of sale of Lot 7501-A to Eduardo Tañedo. Nor did
Antonio Cardenas stop the use of the drain pipe and septic tank by the
occupants of Lot 7501-A before he sold said lot to Eduardo Tañedo. Hence, the
use of the septic tank is continued by operation of law. Accordingly, the
spouses Romeo and Pacita Sim, the new owners of the servient estate (Lot
7501-B), cannot impair, in any manner whatsoever, the use of the servitude.
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