EMILIO YANGO, PETITIONER, VS. BUENAVENTURA OCAMPO, JUDGE OF FIRST INSTANCE OF NUEVA ECIJA, RESPONDENT.

This is a petition for the writ of mandamus filed by Emilio Yango against
Buenaventura Ocampo, Judge of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija,
requiring him to accept the notice of appeal presented by the petitioner, and to
give it due course, in the meantime staying the execution of the judgment
appealed from.

The facts upon which the petitioner bases his application, and which are not
disputed by the respondent are as follows:

On February 12, 1932, the petitioner Emilio Yango was personally notified in
the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija of the sentence of one year and one
day of imprisonment, with P1,500 indemnity and subsidiary imprisonment in case
of insolvency, imposed upon him in criminal case No. 7114 of said court for the
crime of estafa.

On February 26, 1932, the petitioner aforementioned, a Manila resident,
deposited in the post office of this city registered envelope No. 73636
addressed to the clerk of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija containing
a notice of appeal from the aforesaid sentence, a copy of the notice being
attached to the present proceedings as annex A.

On February 27, 1932, at about 10.30 in the morning, the registered envelope
containing the petitioner’s notice of appeal was received in the post office of
Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, and at once deposited by the postmaster in post-office
box No. 63, rented by the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija, according to
the sworn statement signed by the postmaster of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, annex
B.

The clerk of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija did not collect the
mail in the post-office box until March 1, 1932. Among the correspondence in the
box on that day was the registered envelope containing the petitioner’s notice
of appeal, and it was marked with the court’s stamp with the date of March 1,
1932.

There is no question, then, that the registry notice referring to the notice
of appeal of the petitioner, Emilio Yango, was deposited by the postmaster of
Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, on the morning of February 27, 1932, in post-office box
No. 63 rented by the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija, within the
statutory period of fifteen days.

The only question to decide, therefore, is whether or not the deposit of the
registry notice referring to the appeal of said petitioner in the post-office
box of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija amounts to the delivery to or
filing of said notice of appeal with the clerk of said court, in accordance with
the provision of section 45 of General Order No. 58.

Section 45 of General Order No. 58 provides the following:

“Sec. 45. An appeal shall be taken by filing with the clerk of the court in
which the judgment or order was rendered, or with such court, a notice stating
the appeal, and by serving a copy thereof upon the adverse party or his
attorney.”

This court, interpreting the word “filing” used m that section said:

“* * * The word ‘filing’, as used in the section quoted, can be construed
only as requiring a placing or depositing with the clerk of a written notice of
intention to take an appeal.” (United States vs. Tenorio, 37 Phil.,
7.)

The law does not say that the filing of notice of appeal must be done in
person; neither has this court so interpreted the law. Consequently said filing
may be done by any of the means now employed for the purpose of delivering
correspondence to the addressee, one of them being the mails.

The petitioner being a resident of the City of Manila, the surest and
cheapest means of filing the notice of appeal from the sentence of conviction
imposed upon him by the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija was to send it by
mail in any of the forms established by the Bureau of Posts. Since he had to
know for certain whether the clerk of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija
had received the notice of appeal, he chose to have it registered, for then the
addressee would have to give a receipt for the registered letter.

In renting post-office box No. 63 for.the exclusive use of its official
correspondence, the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija extended, so to
speak, its office to that of the post office of Cabanatuan. Since the clerk of
court was the head of said office, with the key to the post-office box in his
possession, and he was the only one authorized to collect or to have the
contents collected, he had the control of said box. If this be so, the deposit
of the registry notice referring to the appeal in the post-office box of the
court of which the clerk of said court was in charge, amounted lo filing said
notice with that clerk, and was a substantial compliance with the law.

For the foregoing considerations, we are of opinion and so hold that a notice
of appeal in a criminal case sent by registered mail and addressed to the clerk
of the court having cognizance of the case, and deposited during office hours in
the post-office box of said court, amounts to filing it with the clerk thereof
and constitutes a substantial compliance with the provision contained in section
45 of General Order No. 58.

Wherefore, the petitioner’s notice of appeal having been filed with the clerk
of the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija within the period of fifteen days,
and it being a ministerial duty of the respondent judge to accept said notice
and let the appeal take its course, it is ordered that the same be done, and the
execution of the sentence stayed, without special finding of costs. So
ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, Abad Santos, Hull,
Vickers, Imperial, and Butte, JJ., concur.