Short answer. Yes. When an easement is established, all the rights necessary for its use are considered granted along with it. So a right of way carries with it the incidental acts that make passage actually possible, including keeping the path in usable condition — within reasonable limits.
What the law says
Upon the establishment of an easement, all the rights necessary for its use are considered granted.
Civil Code, Article 625 — Accessory Rights Are Included. Read the full provision →
An easement comes with what it needs to work
Article 625 of the Civil Code is deceptively short: upon the establishment of an easement, all the rights necessary for its use are considered granted. The principle is that a right the law or the parties created must be usable in practice, not merely on paper. A right of passage that does not include entering to clear a fallen branch, level a rut or maintain the surface would be worth very little the first time weather or wear made the path impassable. The same reasoning applies to other easements — a right to draw water carries what is needed to reach and take it, a drainage easement carries what is needed to keep the channel flowing.
Necessary, not merely convenient
The word doing the work in the article is necessary. Accessory rights extend to what the established easement actually requires, measured against the purpose for which it was created. They do not authorise improvements that enlarge the burden on the servient estate — widening the path beyond what was granted, converting a footpath into a vehicle road, paving where paving was never contemplated, or running utilities along a way that was granted only for passage. An easement is exercised in the manner least burdensome to the owner of the land it crosses. Changing the character or intensity of use is a different question from maintaining what already exists, and it usually needs agreement or a court.
Who pays, and who may not obstruct
As a general matter the cost of works needed to use and preserve an easement falls on the person who benefits from it, since he is the one who enjoys it — and where several people benefit, the expense is shared in proportion to the benefit each derives. The owner of the burdened land cannot impede the exercise of the easement, but neither is he obliged to fund it. He also keeps ownership of the strip and may use it for anything that does not interfere. Blocking a lawful right of way with a gate, a fence or parked vehicles is the most common flashpoint, and self-help demolition by the other side is the second.
Before the dispute escalates
Start with what created the right. Find the deed, the annotation on the title, the subdivision plan or the court decision, and read exactly what was granted — its width, its location and its stated purpose. Photograph the path as it stands and keep a dated record of how long it has been used that way and by whom. Put your request to maintain or clear the way in writing before you send anyone with tools onto a neighbour's land, and keep proof it was received. Many barangays require conciliation before a case is filed. Bring the title, the plan and your photographs to a lawyer rather than deciding for yourself how far the right extends.