Short answer. Yes. Because the action involves property within the Philippines in which the defendant has or claims an interest, the court may, with leave, allow extraterritorial service by personal service abroad, through international conventions, or by publication with registered mail to the last known address, giving at least sixty days to answer.
What the law says
When the defendant does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, and the action affects the personal status of the plaintiff or relates to, or the subject of which is, property within the Philippines, in which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest, actual or contingent, or in which the relief demanded consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the defendant from any interest therein, or the property of the defendant has been attached within the Philippines, service may, by leave of court, be effected out of the Philippines by personal service as under [S]ection [5]; or as provided for in international conventions to which the Philippines is a party; or by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in such places and for such time as the court may order, in which case a copy of the summons and order of the court shall be sent by registered mail to the last known address of the defendant, or in any other manner the court may deem sufficient.
Rule 14, Section 17 — Extraterritorial service. Read the full provision →
The triggering conditions
This provision applies only when the defendant does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, and even then only in specific categories of cases: ones affecting the plaintiff's personal status, ones relating to or concerning property within the Philippines in which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest, ones seeking wholly or partly to exclude the defendant from an interest in such property, or ones where the defendant's property has itself already been attached within the Philippines.
Property claims fit squarely within it
A case where the defendant claims an interest in Philippine land falls directly and squarely within the category of actions relating to, or whose very subject is, property within the Philippines in which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest. That is exactly the kind of dispute this provision was built to keep moving forward even when the defendant himself cannot be found domestically.
Three available extraterritorial methods
With leave of court obtained beforehand, service may be effected out of the Philippines by personal service as provided for other defendants elsewhere in this Rule, by whatever methods are provided for in international conventions to which the Philippines is a party, or by publication in a newspaper of general circulation for such time as the court itself orders, coupled with sending a copy of the summons and the court's order by registered mail to the defendant's last known address, or in any other manner the court deems sufficient under the circumstances.
The sixty-day minimum to answer
Any order granting leave for this kind of extraterritorial service must specify a reasonable period, which cannot be less than sixty calendar days after notice, within which the defendant must file an answer. This considerably longer minimum period reflects the genuine practical difficulty a defendant located abroad faces both in learning about the case at all and in preparing and filing a response, compared to a defendant who is readily reachable domestically within the Philippines.
Related provisions
- Rule 14, Section 17 — Extraterritorial service
- Rule 14, Section 16 — Service upon defendant whose identity or whereabouts are unknown
- Rule 14, Section 18 — Residents temporarily out of the Philippines