Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 02 | Page 11

January 16 - 31, 2018
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
The Notary
Corner
By Editha Corrales Nelson
Immigration Consultant, Notary
Public, Mediation / Arbitrator
I had the opportunity to meet
a client at a hospital while he was
undergoing treatment. He needed
to have a Notary Public come to
his hospital room to draw up a
Power of Attorney giving one of
his children in the Philippines the
power to act on his own behalf to
obtain a cheque from the bank and
to have it deposited into his bank
account. So with my laptop and
portable printer in tow, I trotted off
to the hospital, chatted with this
man and assisted him in preparing
his Power of Attorney. I was
satisfied that he knew what he was
doing and what he wanted from
this legal document. He had his
identification in hand to provide to
me as an assurance and evidence
that he was who he said he was.
After a lengthy chat, the
preparation of the Power of
Attorney took place in his hospital
room and I witnessed his signature
and officer certified the document.
My signature and seal on this
document identified the maker and
authenticated his signature. My
signature was essential because I
am the person who guaranteed the
identity of the maker to the foreign
authorities (i.e. the Philippines).
The instrument I prepared is
referred to as a Special Power of
Attorney: giving a specific power
to an attorney by the donor.
I also had another client who
had a civil case in the Philippines
regarding his land. Because he
was here and it would have been
too expensive for him to travel to
the Philippines to deal with formal
matters regarding his land, he
appointed a trusted family member
to act on his own behalf and to deal
with the civil matter. Again, as one
of my many preferred practices,
I prepared a Special Power of
Attorney and had the gentleman
sign it and I executed and officer
certified his identity.
Unfortunately, my preparation
of these documents is only step
1 of the process in enabling
the use of this document in the
Philippines. The document must
comply with the requirements of
IMMIGRATION
11
Legal Documents for use in the Philippines
Requirements for Authentication
the Philippine government before
it can be recognized and ultimately
effected.
The Department of Justice
and the Consulate General of the
Philippines requires the following:
1. The document must be
signed in the presence of the
consular officer by the person
executing or making the declaration
in the document.
2. If the person cannot appear
before the consular officer, the
following procedure must be
observed:
a. The document must be
notarized by a Notary Public;
b. The signature of the Notary
Public shall be authenticated by
the Society of the Notaries Public
of British Columbia - this requires
an additional cost and a waiting
period of 2 days
3. a fee payment in cash
or money order payable to the
Philippine Consulate General. You
need not attend in person to the
Philippine Consulate. Your local
Notary Public can provide that
service for you.
It is very important to remember
that legalization of documents do
take a few days to effect as the
above steps have to be undertaken.

A Notary Public in the
City of Burnaby, Editha Corrales
Nelson’s preferred areas of practice
are Powers of Attorney, Wills
Preparation, International Legal
Documents, Affidavits, Letters of
Invitation, Statutory Declarations,
Drafting of Business Contracts
and other notarial services. For
an appointment, please call: 218-
2534.
The following should not
be construed as providing legal
advice and information in this
column is intended only as a
general guide and should not be
applied to specific circumstances
without further consultation. For
more information on the subject,
contact Editha Corrales Nelson at
604-777-2757.
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