Short answer. Under Rule 70, Section 19 the bond must be sufficient, approved by the Municipal Trial Court, and executed in favour of the plaintiff to pay the rents, damages, and costs accruing down to the time of the judgment appealed from. It covers what has already accrued, not what falls due later.
What the law says
files a sufficient supersedeas bond, approved by the Municipal Trial Court and executed in favor of the plaintiff to pay the rents, damages, and costs accruing down to the time of the judgment appealed from
Rule 70, Section 19 — Immediate execution of judgment; how to stay same. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The supersedeas bond shall be transmitted by the Municipal Trial Court, with the other papers, to the clerk of the Regional Trial Court to which the action is appealed.
Rule 70, Section 19 — Immediate execution of judgment; how to stay same. Read the full provision →
What the bond is for
A supersedeas bond is security, not a payment. It exists so that a plaintiff who has already won can allow the defendant to stay in the premises during an appeal without risking that the sums awarded evaporate in the meantime. Section 19 defines its content precisely: the rents, damages and costs accruing down to the time of the judgment appealed from. It is measured backwards from the judgment, which is why the figures come out of the judgment itself rather than being negotiated.
Three formal requirements
The bond must be sufficient — enough to answer for those amounts. It must be approved by the Municipal Trial Court, so filing a bond is not the end of the matter until approval is given. And it must be executed in favour of the plaintiff, the person it is meant to protect. The section then provides that the bond shall be transmitted by the Municipal Trial Court, with the other papers, to the clerk of the Regional Trial Court to which the action is appealed, so it follows the case upward.
What the bond does not cover
This is where appeals are lost. The bond stops at the date of the judgment appealed from. Rent and compensation for use accruing after that date are handled by a separate obligation in the same section — the periodic deposits the defendant must keep making while the appeal is pending. A defendant who files a generous bond and then stops depositing has satisfied one requirement and breached the other, and the section directs the appellate court to order execution as to possession when that happens.
Getting the amount right
Because sufficiency is judged against sums already fixed in the judgment, read the judgment closely before applying: it will state the rents or compensation, any damages, and the costs. A bond computed on the rent alone, ignoring damages and costs, invites an objection that it is insufficient — and an insufficient bond does not stay execution. If any figure in the judgment is unclear, that is a question to raise with the court that issued it, not one to estimate.