Short answer. It depends. If the RTC decided in its original jurisdiction, you file an ordinary appeal to the Court of Appeals. If it decided in its appellate jurisdiction, you file a petition for review under Rule 42. If only questions of law are involved, you go to the Supreme Court under Rule 45.
What the law says
(a) Ordinary appeal. – The appeal to the Court of Appeals in cases decided by the Regional Trial Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction shall be taken by filing a notice of appeal with the court which rendered the judgment or final order appealed from and serving a copy thereof upon the adverse party. No record on appeal shall be required except in special proceedings and other cases of multiple or separate appeals where the law or these Rules so require. In such cases, the record on appeal shall be filed and served in like manner. (b) Petition for review. – The appeal to the Court of Appeals in cases decided by the Regional Trial Court in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction shall be by petition for review in accordance with Rule 42. (c) Appeal by certiorari. – In all cases where only questions of law are raised or involved, the appeal shall be to the Supreme Court by petition for review on certiorari in accordance with Rule 45.
Rule 41, Section 2 — Modes of appeal. Read the full provision →
Ordinary appeal
For cases decided by the Regional Trial Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, meaning it acted as the trial court from the start, the appeal to the Court of Appeals is taken simply by filing a notice of appeal with the court that rendered the judgment and serving a copy on the adverse party; no record on appeal is required, except in special proceedings and in cases involving multiple or separate appeals.
Petition for review
Where the Regional Trial Court instead decided the case in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, meaning it was itself hearing an appeal from a lower court, the further appeal to the Court of Appeals is not by ordinary notice of appeal at all, but by petition for review, filed in accordance with Rule 42. This route recognizes that the Regional Trial Court, in that scenario, was itself functioning as an appellate court reviewing a decision from below.
Appeal by certiorari, and why the mode depends on the RTC's role
In all cases where only questions of law are raised or involved, regardless of which jurisdiction the Regional Trial Court exercised, the appeal instead goes directly to the Supreme Court, by petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45. Because of this, the correct appellate path always turns first on whether the Regional Trial Court itself acted as a trial court or as an appellate court, and then on whether the issues being raised are purely legal.
Getting the mode wrong has real costs
Because the three modes are not interchangeable, filing under the wrong one — a notice of appeal where a petition for review was required, for instance — risks having the appeal dismissed outright rather than simply corrected, since each mode carries its own procedure, fees, and deadlines. Anyone appealing a Regional Trial Court ruling should first pin down precisely how that court decided the case, and whether the issues on appeal are purely legal, before choosing which of the three routes to follow.
Related provisions
- Rule 41, Section 2 — Modes of appeal
- Rule 41, Section 1 — Subject of appeal
- Rule 41, Section 3 — Period of ordinary appeal; appeal in habeas corpus cases