Short answer. Yes. Rule 107, Section 1 lets any interested party, relative, or friend petition the proper court, where the absentee resided before disappearing, for the appointment of a person to represent him provisionally in whatever may be necessary, with a Manila petition going to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
What the law says
When a person disappears from his domicile, his whereabouts being unknown, and without having left an agent to administer his property, or the power conferred upon the agent has expired, any interested party, relative or friend, may petition the Court of First Instance of the place where the absentee resided before his disappearance for the appointment of a person to represent him provisionally in all that may be necessary.
Rule 107, Section 1 — Appointment of representative. Read the full provision →
When this provisional remedy applies
The section covers a person who disappears from his domicile, his whereabouts being unknown, and without having left an agent to administer his property, or the power conferred upon the agent has expired — no one is currently authorized to handle his affairs. This creates a genuine gap: bills may go unpaid, property may sit unmanaged or deteriorate, and no one has clear legal authority to act on the absentee's behalf until the court steps in to fill it. Notably, the same remedy also applies where an agent was once appointed but that agent's authority has since lapsed, leaving the same practical gap behind.
Who may petition
Standing is broad: any interested party, relative or friend may bring the petition, not just a spouse or immediate family member. A brother, a close friend, or a business partner with a real stake in seeing the absentee's affairs properly managed can all initiate this petition, without needing to show a closer or more formal relationship than that to the missing person. This breadth mirrors the practical urgency of the situation, since whoever notices the gap first is often best placed to bring it to the court's attention.
Where to file
The petition goes to the Court of First Instance of the place where the absentee resided before his disappearance, with a specific Manila carve-out to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Venue is tied to the absentee's own last known residence rather than to where the petitioner happens to live, keeping the case in the locality with the strongest actual connection to the missing person.
What the representative is actually for
The appointment is to represent him provisionally in all that may be necessary — a stopgap measure distinct from, and simpler than, the fuller declaration-of-absence process the rule sets out in the sections that follow. This provisional representative can handle the immediate, practical necessities of managing the absentee's affairs without the family having to wait through the longer proceeding required to formally declare a person absent.
Related provisions
- Rule 107, Section 1 — Appointment of representative
- Rule 107, Section 2 — Declaration of absence; who may petition