Payatas Estate Improvement Co. vs. Tuason

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G.R. No.

77294, December 12, 1988


ANGELICA VIAJAR and CELSO VIAJAR, plaintiffs-appellants,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, LEONOR P. LADRIDO, LOURDES LADRIDO IGNACIO, EUGENIO P. LADRIDO and L P.
LADRIDO, defendants-appellees.

MEDIALDEA, J.:

FACTS:
Lot 7349 located in Pototan, Iloilo was owned by spouses Rosendo Te and Ana Te. The same was sold to
plaintiffs Angelica and Celso Viajar. Lot 7511, on the other hand was owned by spouses Ricardo and
Leonor Ladrido. Between these parcel of lot was the Suague River. (West side of the river is Lot 7511)

Plaintiffs filed a complaint for recovery of possession against Ricardo Ladrido when the former learned
that the area of 11,819 sqm. of Lot No. 7340 has been in the possession of the defendants.

RTC: In favor of defendants. Held them as the owner of the subject land.

CA: AFFIRMED. The change in the course of the Suague River was gradual and not sudden.

For more than 40 years (before 1940 to 1980), the Suague River overflowed its banks yearly and the
property of the defendant gradually received deposits of soil from the effects of the current of the river.
The quondam river bed had been filled by accretion through the years. The land is already plain and
there is no indication on the ground of any abandoned river bed. The river bed is definitely no longer
discernible now.

ISSUE: WON the change in the course of the Suague River was gradual.

HELD: YES.
Art. 457 – To the owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers belong the accretion which they gradually
receive from the effects of the current of the waters.

Payatas Estate Improvement Co. vs. Tuason:


Accretions of that character are natural incidents to land bordering on running streams and are not
affected by the registration laws. It follows that registration does not protect the riparian owner against
diminution of the area of his land through gradual changes in the course of the adjoining stream.

C.N. Hodges vs. Garcia: Reiterated same ruling –


The accretion to defendant’s land used to pertain to plaintiff’s estate, which is covered by a Torrens
Certificate of Title, cannot preclude the defendant from being the owner thereof.
Such accretions are natural incidents to land bordering on running streams and the provisions of the
Civil Code in that respect are not affected by the Registration Act.

Petition DISMISSED.

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