Short answer. Yes. Under Article 504 of the Civil Code, the right to use public water can be acquired in two ways: by administrative concession from the government, or by prescription through ten years of continuous use. If you have used the water openly and without interruption for that period, prescription may have vested the right in you.
What the law says
The use of public waters is acquired: (1) By administrative concession; (2) By prescription for ten years. The extent of the rights and obligations of the use shall be that established, in the first case, by the terms of the concession, and, in the second case, by the manner and form in which the waters have been used.
Civil Code, Article 504 — Acquiring Use Of Public Waters. Read the full provision →
Two ways to acquire the right
Article 504 of the Civil Code lists two routes to acquiring the right to use public water. The first is administrative concession — a formal grant from the appropriate government authority. The second is prescription for ten years. If you have continuously used a public water source for that period — drawing irrigation water, operating a mill on a stream, channelling water through a canal — the right may have attached to your use without any formal government permit. Both routes are recognised by the Code as legitimate.
What your right actually covers
The statute is clear that the extent of the rights and obligations of the use shall be that established, in the first case, by the terms of the concession, and, in the second case, by the manner and form in which the waters have been used. This is a practical limitation: if you acquired the right by prescription, your right is defined by what you actually did over those ten years. You cannot later expand your water use and claim the expanded use is also covered by the same prescription. The manner and form of your historical use set the ceiling.
What prescription requires
Prescription does not run from mere occasional or disputed use. The possession underlying a prescriptive right generally needs to be public (not hidden or clandestine), peaceful (not maintained by force or intimidation), uninterrupted (without breaks long enough to be treated as abandonment), and under a claim of right. Ten years is a long time, and if your use was contested by the government or another party at any point, that may have interrupted the period. Whether your specific history of water use meets these standards is a factual question.
Practical implications today
Water resources in the Philippines are regulated by statute, and government agencies may have jurisdiction over permits and allocations that layer on top of the Civil Code rule. A prescriptive right acquired under Article 504 does not necessarily insulate you from regulatory requirements — the two regimes can coexist. If you are relying on prescription in a water dispute or need to formalise your water use, it is worth examining both the Civil Code basis and any applicable water legislation to understand your full position.