G.R. No. 29640. December 22, 1928
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. DOMINGO CALABON, DEFENDANT. VALERIANA RAYMUNDO AND TEODORA FALCONAN, SURETIES AND APPELLEES.
OSTRAND, J.:
People of the Philippine Islands from an order of the Court of First Instance of
Laguna relieving Valeriana Raymundo and Teodora Falconan from their liability as
sureties on a bail bond.
It appears from the record that on September 5, 1925, one
Domingo Calabon was convicted of homicide by the Court of First Instance of
Laguna and sentenced to suffer twelve years and one day of reclusion temporal.
Calabon appealed and gave a bail bond in the sum of P2,000 and in which
Valeriana Raymundo and Teodora Falconan were sureties jointly and severally. The
case was finally decided by this court on July 31, 1926,[1] and the judgment of the
trial court affirmed. Upon the return of the record to the Court of First
Instance, both Calabon and his sureties were notified of the sentence, but the
accused failed to appear, and on September 21, 1926, the Court of First Instance
issued an order for his arrest and declared his bail forfeited. On October 19,
1926, the surety Valeriana Raymundo filed a motion setting forth that the
accused had not been found notwithstanding the efforts of the Constabulary and
the municipal police of San Pablo and prayed that she be given an extension of
thirty days for the apprehension of the accused. On December 13, 1926, the court
extended the time until the 20th of the same month. Notwithstanding this
extension, the sureties were unsuccessful in their search for the accused, and
on January 7, 1927, the Court of First Instance rendered a judgment, ordering
the sureties to jointly and severally pay the sum of P12,000 with the costs.
From this judgment the sureties appealed to the Supreme Court, where the appeals
were dismissed on the ground that the appellants had failed to file their briefs
within the time prescribed by the rules (case G. R. No. 28635).[2]
Upon the return of the record to the Court of First Instance
the surety Valeriana Raymundo presented a motion to the lower court asking that
she be relieved from all responsibility on the bond on the ground that she had
made all possible efforts to secure the arrest of Calabon; that she had offered
a prize of P500 for his capture; and that she had expended considerable money in
search for the convict; that due to these efforts he had been apprehended on
October 10, 1927, and that he was already serving his sentence in Bilibid
Prison. On January 17, 1928, the other surety Teodora Falconan filed a similar
motion and asked for the same relief. The motions were opposed by the provincial
fiscal of Laguna, but the court, nevertheless, granted the motions and cancelled
the bond, whereupon the Attorney-General brought this appeal.
The appellant contends that considering the provisions of
section 76 of General Order No. 58, the court below exceeded its jurisdiction in
discharging the sureties from all liability upon a bail bond which had been
declared forfeited more than thirty days before the issuance of the order of
discharge.
There is some merit in this contention; section 76, supra, only
authorizes the courts to discharge a forfeiture within the period of thirty days
from the time of the declaration of such forfeiture, and it seems obvious that a
complete discharge cannot be granted after the expiration of that period. But
this court has held that that does not entirely deprive the court of its
inherent discretionary powers in regard to the amount of the liability of the
sureties and that where after forfeiture of bail, the purpose of the
recognizance has been accomplished by placing the principal in prison to serve
sentence, the bondsmen may be relieved from a part of the liability according to
the merits of the particular case (People vs. Reyes, 48 Phil., 139). Following
this rule and taking into consideration the efforts of one of the sureties to
apprehend the convict and the fact that said convict finally was arrested and
commenced to serve his sentence before the appeal of the sureties in case G. R.
No. 28635 had been dismissed by this court, we are of the opinion that the
liability of said sureties upon the bond may properly be reduced to P3,000.
The order appealed from is therefore modified, and it is hereby
ordered that upon the payment to the Government of the sum of P3,000 by the
aforesaid sureties, jointly and severally, within the period of sixty days from
the return of the record to the court below, the said sureties will be relieved
from further liability upon the bond. No costs will be allowed. So ordered.
Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Johns,
Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.
[1] G. R. No. 24890, not reported.
[2] Decided by resolution of November 22, 1927.