Non-payment of appeal fee DOES NOT auto-dismiss appeal

In the case of Fontanar vs. Bonsubre, this Court reiterated the rule previously laid down in NAWASA vs. Secretary of Public Works and Communications, that in appealed cases, the failure to pay the appellate court docket fee does not automatically result in the dismissal of the appeal, much less affect the courts jurisdiction, the dismissal being discretionary on the part of the appellate court. In arriving at this conclusion, this Court applied by analogy Section 3 (now Section 5) of Rule 141 of the Rules of Court on payment of appellate docket fees in appeals from the regional trial court to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.