Short answer. The court decides the case without him. In ejectment, if the defendant fails to answer within the period, the court — on its own or on the plaintiff's motion — shall render judgment as may be warranted by the facts alleged in the complaint and limited to what is prayed for therein.
What the law says
the court, motu proprio or on motion of the plaintiff, shall render judgment as may be warranted by the facts alleged in the complaint and limited to what is prayed for therein
Rule 70, Section 7 — Effect of failure to answer. Read the full provision →
Judgment on the complaint alone
Ejectment is a summary proceeding, and this provision is where its speed shows most. If the defendant lets the answering period lapse, there is no trial to wait for: the court, motu proprio or on motion of the plaintiff, renders judgment. Motu proprio means on the court's own initiative — the plaintiff does not even have to ask. The judgment is based on the facts alleged in the complaint, which the silent defendant has left uncontradicted. For a defendant, this is the essential warning: in an ejectment case, saying nothing is very close to conceding everything.
The built-in limits
The court's hands are not entirely free. The judgment must be warranted by the facts alleged — a complaint that does not actually make out a case for ejectment cannot support a judgment just because no answer came. It must also be limited to what is prayed for therein: the plaintiff gets no more than the complaint asked. And on money, the rule adds a check — the court may in its discretion reduce the amount of damages and attorney's fees claimed for being excessive or otherwise unconscionable. A defendant's silence, in short, hands the plaintiff the facts, but not a blank cheque.
No default declaration — and what if there are several defendants
Notice what the rule does not require: a motion to declare the defendant in default. Ejectment procedure has no room for that step — the same Rule's list of prohibited pleadings bans it — because the failure to answer leads straight to judgment instead. The provision also handles the multi-defendant case by cross-reference: where two or more defendants face a common cause of action and only some answer, the case is tried on the answers actually filed, and judgment is rendered on the evidence presented — one defendant's silence does not automatically sink co-defendants who did respond.
What each side should do
If you are the plaintiff and the answering period has passed, you may move for judgment — though the court can act on its own, a motion puts the lapse squarely before it, with proof of when the complaint was served. If you are the defendant and the deadline is near or just missed, act immediately: file the answer at once if any hour of the period remains, and if judgment has already been rendered, bring the papers to a lawyer the same week, because the remedies that follow an ejectment judgment run on short, strict timelines and the judgment is enforced quickly.