“A, an owner of a real property with an assessed value

of Eighteen Thousand Pesos (P18,000.00). B, also an owner

of a real property with an assessed value of Twenty
Thousand Pesos (P21,000.00). A wants to pass through the
property of B. B did not permit B. A wants to file an
easement of right of way. Where should he file? What court
has jurisdiction over the case?
Easement is a real right.
Before getting to point of question, it is important to know the
nature of the right involve. As in this case, an easement is a real
right. As held by the Supreme Court in the case of Pilar
Development Corporation v. Dumadag (693 SCRA 96), easement
is a real right on another’s property, corporeal and immovable,
whereby the owner of the latter must refrain from doing or allowing
somebody else to do or something to be done on his property, for
the benefit of another person or tenement.
Since, easement is a real right it follows that any action
concerning easement it could be considered as a real right and a
real property at the same time. This is following the idea
enunciated by the Supreme Court in the case of MBTC v. Alejo (364
SCRA 812), where it considered the real estate mortgage, an
interest in real property, as real right and a real property itself.
In the same vein, easement of right of way could be
considered as an interest in an immovable property. Being as
such, it follows that it will squarely fall to those actions affecting
title to, possession of real property, or any interest therein. In
other words, an action for right of way is a real action.
Consequently, to determine which court has jurisdiction over
the easement of right of way we have to refer to the law which
granted and determine the jurisdiction of the courts in the
Philippines. That is, the Batas Pambansa Bilang 128, as amended.
Specifically, under Section 19 (2) of the foregoing law, the Regional
Trial Court shall exercise exclusive original jurisdiction in all civil
actions which involve the title to, or possession of real property, or
any interest therein, where the assed value of the of the property
involved exceeds Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00) x x x.
Otherwise, when the amount does not exceed Twenty thousand
pesos (P20,000.00), the first level court has jurisdiction. The
question now, is which property’s assessed property should be
used to determine what court has jurisdiction. However, which
property’s assessed value should be used? The dominant or the
servient estate?
I am of opinion that the assessed value of the servient estate
should be considered for it is the property that is being subjected
to the easement. Thus, as in the problem, since B’s property is the
servient estate and the assessed value of which is Twenty
Thousand Pesos (P21,000.00) which falls within the jurisdiction of
the Second Level Courts.
In conclusion, since easement of right of way is a real right
over an immovable property of another and could be considered as
an interest in real property, it falls squarely within real actions.
Being a real action, under the law, the jurisdictional requirement
to determine which court has jurisdiction is to identify the assessed
value of the subject property. In this case, the assessed value of
the servient property, B’s property should be used to determine
which court it should be filed. In this case, it is the Regional Trial
Court that has jurisdiction over the case.