City of Manila v. Garcia, G. R. No. L-26053 Case Digest

 

City of Manila v. Garcia,

G. R. No. L-26053

 

 

Facts:

City of Manila is owner of parcels of land. Shortly after liberation from 1945 to 1947, defendants entered upon these premises without plaintiff's knowledge and consent. They built houses of second-class materials, again without plaintiff's knowledge and consent, and without the necessary building permits from the city. There they lived thru the years to the present.

Mayor Fugoso give the Respondents a written permits labeled "lease contract" — to occupy specific areas in the property upon conditions therein set forth. For their occupancy, defendants were charged nominal rentals.

City Engineer, pursuant to the Mayor's directive to clear squatters' houses on city property, gave each of defendants thirty (30) days to vacate and remove his construction or improvement on the premises for the purpose of expansion of Epifanio de los Santos Elementary School. Trial court  directed defendants to vacate the premises and to pay the rentals.

 

Issue:

Whether or not the houses and constructions by the respondent were public nuisance.

 

Held:

Yes

 

Ratio:

In the situation thus obtaining, the houses and constructions aforesaid constitute public nuisance per se. And this, for the reason that they hinder and impair the use of the property for a badly needed school building, to the prejudice of the education of the youth of the land. They shackle the hands of the government and thus obstruct performance of its constitutionally ordained obligation to establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public education, and more, to "provide at least free public primary instruction".

The public nuisance could well have been summarily abated by the city authorities themselves, even without the aid of the courts.