MAXIMINA VALDEZ, PETITIONER, VS. RAMON QUERUBIN, AS JUSTICE OF THE PEACE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIGAN, PROVINCE OF ILOCOS SUR, ET AL., RESPONDENTS.

Without stopping to consider any of the nice questions raised in the course
of these proceedings as to the jurisdiction of the respondent justice of the
peace, acting as judge of the Court of First Instance of I locos Sur under
authority of the provisions of Act No. 2131, to direct the execution of the
judgment referred to in the complaint in these proceedings and in his order of
October 11,1917, which was entered in the case of Arcebal et al. vs. Valdez [R.
G. No. 1067], in the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur, we are all of
opinion that even if he had jurisdiction in the premises, there was a manifest
abuse of his discretion in the requirement that the defendant administrator in
that action file a bond, in the nature of a subsidiary bond, in the sum of
P91,000 in addition to the bond in the sum of P45,000 already filed by him and
approved.

The requirement of the additional bond, as appears from the order itself, is
based on a finding by the trial court that the lands in litigation appear to be
worth P100,000, and that the true value of the subject matter in litigation
would seem to be greater than the amount of the original bond of P45,000. But
these lands, in the possession of an administrator of the court, could not take
wings and fly away, pending the appeal from the judgment; and the bond of
P45,000 which had already been given is manifestly more than sufficient to
protect the interests of the appellees against all possible loss or damage
arising from the retention of the real state in the hands of the
administrator.

Where the purpose of the requirement of a bond is to secure the person in
whose favor the bond is executed from loss or damage to real property in which
he claims an interest, pending an appeal, such real estate being the subject
matter in litigation between the party executing the bond and the party in whose
favor it is executed, the amount of the bond which should be required in the
exercise of a sound judicial discretion is not, in the absence of special
circumstances, the total value of the real estate or an amount in excess
thereof, but an amount reasonably sufficient to cover the estimated value of the
fruits and profits of the real estate pending the litigation, and such damage to
the real estate as may reasonably be anticipated under all the circumstances
existing at the time when the bond is executed. In the instant case, the
original bond was more than sufficient to secure the rights of the appellees,
without the necessity for the requirement of an additional bond from the
administrator (who holds the land subject to the control of the court which
appointed him) in the unreasonable, excessive and practically prohibitive sum of
P91,000.

We conclude that the order complained of should be annulled, and that the
preliminary injunction heretofore issued prohibiting the respondents from all
attempts to levy execution on the land in question by virtue of the terms of
that order should be made permanent, with the costs of these proceedings against
the respondents other than the respondent judge.

Ten days hereafter let judgment be entered in conformity herewith, and twenty
days thereafter let certified copies of the temporary injunction, of this
decision, and of the judgment entered in these proceedings be forwarded to the
Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur for file with the record in the case of
Arcebal et al. vs. Valdez [R. G. No. 1067] of that court; and thereupon
let the record of these proceedings be filed with the archives of original
proceedings in this court. So ordered.

Arellano, C. J., Torres, Johnson, Araullo, Street, Malcolm,
Avanceña, and Fisher, JJ., concur.