G.R. No. L-31665
August 6, 1975
Facts
Petitioner was charged with qualified theft. Respondent judge approved a bail of P15,000.00 on thw condition that it be posted entirely in cash. At the hearing, petitioner asked that he be allowed to post instead a surety bond, which request, however, was denied. Hence, this petition.
Issue
Whether the respondent judge has the authority to require a strictly cash bond and disallow the petitioner’s attempt to post a surety bond for his provisional liberty.
Held
Section 1 of Rule 114 of the Rules of Court provides that bail is “the security required and given for the release of a person who is in the custody of the law, that he will appear before any court in which his appearance may be required as stipulated in the bail bond or recognizance.” The purpose of requiring bail is to relieve an accused from imprisonment until his conviction and yet secure his appearance at the trial.
Moreover, the trial court cannot strictly require that bail shall only be in the form of a cash bond. The condition that the accused may have provisional liberty only upon his posting of a cash bond is abhorrent to the nature of bail and transgresses our law on the matter. The sole purpose of bail is to insure the attendance of the accused when required by the court, and there should be no suggestion of penalty on the part of the accused nor revenue on the part of the government.
The allowance of a cash bond in lieu of sureties is authorized in this jurisdiction only because our rules expressly provide for it. Were this not the case, the posting of bail by depositing cash with the court cannot be countenanced because, strictly speaking, the very nature of bail presupposes the attendance of sureties to whom the body of the prisoner can be delivered. And even where cash bail is allowed, the option to deposit cash in lieu of a surety bond primarily belongs to the accused.
Therefore, the trial court may not reject otherwise acceptable sureties and insist that the accused obtain his provisional liberty only thru a cash bond.