Illegally built businesses on beaches may be demolished for disturbance — SC

The Supreme Court has ruled that illegally built structures and businesses on public land and beaches may be demolished for being a public nuisance.

In a 14-page decision, the SC Second Division affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) that declared structures illegally built by a couple along a beach were a public nuisance and ordered their demolition.

“Here the CA found that the nuisance alleged in… [the] complaint was properly characterized as a public nuisance,” the SC said.

“While the rest house and the facilities such as video machines, videoke sets, billiard tables, open-fire kitchen, carinderia, and sari-sari stores… are not, by themselves, a nuisance, we nevertheless agree that under the circumstances, [the] structures are a public nuisance,” it added.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by owners of a beach resort against a couple in January 2012 for abatement of nuisance, easement, and injunction before the regional trial court (RTC) of Nasugbu, Batangas.

The complainants said that the couple operated informal structures and rest houses along the shores of the beach and provided video machines, videoke sets, and billiard tables with assortment of sari-sari stores and carinderias to tourists.

Due to discomfort and inconvenience caused by the couple’s activities, customers of the beach resort told the complainants that they would never return.

The RTC ruled in favor of the couple, stating that the owners failed to prove that the structures caused damage to their property or loss of income.

This was later overturned by the appellate court.

For its part, the SC affirmed the CA’s ruling.

It also agreed to grant the complainants P10,000 in temperate damages in the absence of proof of the specific amount of the business losses they suffered as well as moral, exemplary, and attorney’s fees amounting to P10,000 each.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, was promulgated in January 2025 and published in April 2025. —AOL, GMA Integrated News