Dear PAO,
My father gave me a Special Power of Attorney to manage his apartments. He also authorized me to file cases against his tenants if necessary. Can I file a case for ejectment against the tenants even if some of the arrears in their rent occurred before I was given a Special Power of Attorney? How long will it exactly take for the court to decide to judicially eject my father’s tenants?
Rose

Dear Rose,
Any person may authorize another to do something on his behalf by executing a power of attorney.

A power of attorney is an instrument in writing by which one person, as principal, appoints another as his agent and confers upon him the authority to perform certain specified acts or kinds of acts on behalf of the principal (De Leon and De Leon, Jr., Comments and Cases on Partnership, Agency and Trusts (5th Ed.), page 404). A Special Power of Attorney is executed to authorize an agent to do specific transactions such as conveying and creating real rights over an immovable or filing and prosecuting a case on behalf of another person. The extent of authority which the principal gives to his agent is likewise laid down in the Special Power of Attorney.

Being the agent of your father, you may institute an ejectment case, on his behalf, against any of his tenants from the moment that your father authorized you to do so in the Special Power of Attorney that he gave you. The fact that some of the arrears in the payment of the tenants happened before you were authorized by your father will not affect your authority. What is important is that you were already designated by your father as his agent at the time of filing of the case before our courts.

As to your second question, we regret to inform you that we cannot answer how long it will take before you may judicially eject the tenants of the apartment of your father. Although forcible entry and unlawful detainer cases are governed only by summary procedures (Section 1, 1991 Revised Rules on Summary Procedure) where the processes and rules are made simpler for the speedy disposition of the cases, we still cannot tell a definite length of time before the court may decide upon the merits of the case submitted before it for determination. The time spent in hearing ejectment cases is affected by several factors such as the postponement of the mandatory preliminary conference on highly meritorious grounds, unusually heavy workload of the court and such other matters which are beyond the control of the court or any of the parties therein.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. Please be reminded that this advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .