Magbanua vs.

Intermediate Appellate Court Facts: The plaintiffs filed a petition against the respondents all surenamed Pe rez alleging that they are shared tenants of the defendants, and that the latter divert the flow of water from their farm lots which caused the drying up of the ir landholdings and asked to vacate their areas for they could not plant palay d ue to lack of water. The trial court rendered a decision in favor to the plainti ffs and ordered the defendants to pay moral and exemplary damages to the plainti ffs. The defendants appealed to the IAC which the latter affirmed the appeal by deleting the award of moral and exemplary damages to be awarded to the plaintiff s. Upon the reinstatement of the IAC, the trial court did not agree to the appel late court in its decision because the former believe that as a shared tenants, they are entitled to be maintained as agricultural lessees in peaceful cultivati on in their respective landholdings. Issue: WON the tenants of defendants were entitled to moral and exemplary dama ges. Held: The petition is granted and the decision under review is modified and each of the plaintiffs is entitled to receive award of moral and exemplary dam ages by the defendants . Ratio: Under the law, the landowners has an obligation to keep the tenant in the peaceful and continuous cultivation of his landholding. In this case, it shows that the petitioners were denied irrigation water for their farm lots in order t o make them vacate their landholdings. The defendants violated the plaintiff's r ights and caused prejudiced to the latter by the diversion of water. Under Artic le 2219 (10), the Civil Code permits the award of moral damages for acts mention ed in Article 21 of the same Code which provides, Any person who willfully cause s loss or injury to another in a manner that is contrary to morals, good custom s or public policy shall compensate the latter for the damage. The defendants ac ted in an oppressive manner which is contrary to the morals of the petitioners a nd therefore, they are liable for the compensation to the latter.