G.R. No. L-6741, February 21, 1912
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. NEMESIO BONOAN, ET AL. (bondsmen of Simeon Mandac), defendants-appellants.

FACTS

Simeon Mandac was charged with homicide, and the court set his bail at P10,000. The appellants (Nemesio Bonoan, Evaristo G. Clemente, Septimo Villanueva, and Ignacio Arzaga) acted as sureties and posted a bond for Mandac’s release, conditioned on his appearance and amenability to court orders. Mandac was convicted and appealed to the Supreme Court. However, he failed to file his brief and disappeared, leading the Supreme Court to declare his appeal abandoned and remand the case for execution of judgment. The lower court then ordered the bondsmen to produce Mandac. The bondsmen failed to do so, and the court forfeited the bond. The bondsmen appealed, arguing that: (1) a new bond had been substituted for the original (which the court never approved), and (2) at the time they were ordered to produce Mandac, he was already in government custody in Nueva Vizcaya on a charge of bandolerismo, and the authorities refused to surrender him to them.

ISSUE

Whether the bondsmen should be held liable on the bail bond given for Simeon Mandac.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s order forfeiting the bond and exonerated the bondsmen from liability. The Court held that the Government, as obligee of the bond, had itself arrested and detained Mandac in Nueva Vizcaya, thereby placing him beyond the reach and control of the bondsmen. This act of the obligee rendered performance of the bond conditions impossible. The law exonerates bail when performance is prevented by an act of the obligee. The Court also noted that the bondsmen’s obligation was limited to ensuring Mandac’s amenability to the orders and processes of the court in his homicide case, and no such order was issued until after he was already in custody on another charge. The alleged substitution of the bond was ineffective as it was never approved by the court.