Case Digest: Valderrama vs. The North Negros Sugar Co. G.R. No. L-23810 I December 18, 1925

FACTS:

On November 17, 1916, several hacienda owners Manapla, Occidental Negros entered into a contract with Miguel J. Osorio, known as milling contract, wherein Osorio agreed to install in Manapla a sugar central of a minimum capacity of 300 tons, for grinding and milling all the sugar cane to be grown by the hacienda owners, who in turn bound themselves to furnish the central with all the cane they might produce in their estates for thirty years from the execution of the contract, all in accordance with the conditions specified therein. Later on, the defendant North Negros Sugar Co., Inc., acquired the rights and interest of Miguel J. Osorio in the milling contract aforesaid.

Two years thereafter, the hacienda owners in Manapla entered into other milling contracts. In view of the fact that the hacienda owners, who were up to that time customers of the central, could not furnish sufficient cane for milling, as required by the capacity of said central, the defendant made other milling contracts with various hacienda owners of Cadiz, Occidental Negros, in order to obtain sufficient cane to sustain the central; and this gave rise to the plaintiffs filing their complaint, alleging that the easement of way, which each of them has established in his respective hacienda, was only for the transportation through each hacienda of the sugar cane of the owner thereof, while the defendant maintains that it had the right to transport to its central upon the railroad passing through the haciendas of the plaintiffs, not only the sugar cane harvested in said haciendas, but also that of the hacienda owners of Cadiz, Occidental Negros.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the easement of right of way established in favour of North Negros Sugar Co., Inc., shall be exclusively used in transporting sugar cane by hacienda owners of Manapla.

DECISION:

The easement of right of way was constituted in favour of North Negros Sugar Co., Inc., and as such it can be used in transporting sugar cane not only by the hacienda owners of Manapla but also by other sugarcane suppliers. It is against the nature of the easement to pretend that it was established in favor of the servient estates, because it is a well settled rule that things serve their owner by reason of ownership and not by reason of easement. This is a case of an easement for the benefit of a corporation, voluntarily created by the plaintiffs upon their respective estates for the construction of a railroad connecting said estates with the central of the defendant. Once the road is constructed, the easement is apparent because it is continuously exposed to view by the rails which reveal the use and enjoyment of said easement.