G.R. No. 44908; March 6, 1936
REGINO LLARENAS, petitioner, vs. MARCELIANO R. MONTEMAYOR, Judge of First Instance of La Union, and ANDRES RIMANDO, respondents.

FACTS

Respondent Andres Rimando filed a civil case in the justice of the peace court of Bauang, La Union, to recover P81 from petitioner Regino Llarenas. The judgment was in favor of Llarenas. Rimando appealed to the Court of First Instance. He deposited P8 as the appellate docket fee, based on the advice of the justice of the peace. After the appeal was docketed, Llarenas moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the Court of First Instance did not acquire jurisdiction because Rimando failed to deposit the P16 docket fee required under Section 76 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by Act No. 3615. The respondent judge denied the motion, prompting Llarenas to file this petition.

ISSUE

Whether the appellant, in an appeal from a justice of the peace court, is required to deposit a P16 docket fee under Section 76 of the Code of Civil Procedure (as amended by Act No. 3615), or only P8 under the graduated docket fee schedule in Section 788 (as amended by Act No. 3395) for cases where the amount claimed is less than P200.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the petition, upholding the validity of the appeal. The Court harmonized the conflicting provisions, holding that the applicable docket fee is the graduated rate under Section 788 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by Act No. 3395. Since the amount claimed was P81 (less than P200), the required docket fee was P8, not P16. The Court found that the legislative intent was to standardize docket fees based on the amount in controversy, not to impose a heavier burden on appellants from justice of the peace courts. The deposit of P8 by Rimando was sufficient to perfect the appeal. The doctrine in Lazaro vs. Endencia was distinguished as it did not squarely address this specific issue.

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