Short answer. You pay the full amount of the appellate court docket and other lawful fees to the clerk of the court that rendered the judgment or final order being appealed — not directly to the RTC — within the period for taking the appeal.

What the law says

Within the period for taking an appeal, the appellant shall pay to the clerk of the court which rendered the judgment or final order appealed from the full amount of the appellate court docket and other lawful fees. Proof of payment thereof shall be transmitted to the appellate court together with the original record or the record on appeal, as the case may be.

Rule 40, Section 5 — Appellate court docket and other lawful fees. Read the full provision →

Where fees are paid, and when

Within the period allowed for taking an appeal, the appellant must pay the full amount of the appellate court docket and other lawful fees to the clerk of the court that actually rendered the judgment or final order being appealed from, which is the Municipal Trial Court, and not the Regional Trial Court that will eventually hear the appeal, even though the appeal itself is ultimately directed to that higher court.

Proof of payment travels with the record

Once payment is made, proof of that payment must be transmitted to the appellate court together with the original record or the record on appeal, as the case may be, so the Regional Trial Court can readily confirm that this requirement was satisfied before proceeding further with the case. Without that proof accompanying the record, the Regional Trial Court has no ready way to confirm the fees were actually paid on time, which can leave the status of the appeal in doubt at the very moment it lands on the RTC's docket, prompting inquiries that could otherwise have been avoided.

Why this matters

Because payment has to happen within the appeal period itself, and proof of it travels along with the transmitted record, whether this requirement was met can have a direct bearing on how the appeal is ultimately perfected and processed by the appellate court. A failure on either point, missing the payment deadline or failing to include the proof, can create complications for how smoothly the appeal proceeds once it reaches the RTC, and can even become grounds for the RTC to question whether the appeal was properly perfected at all. This is why practitioners treat the docket-fee receipt as a document worth keeping just as carefully as the notice of appeal itself, since its absence from the record can be raised against the appellant later.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.