How to get a Special Power of Attorney that you will use in the Philippines

We have some legal documents that needs to be sign in the Philippines. But the problem is we are now living in Canada and we need a Special Power of Attorney to make that happen.

I would like to share to you our experience in getting a Special Power Of Attorney in Philippine Consulate General Calgary.

Last April 26, we went to Calgary with my husband and 2 kids, the purpose of the trip was to get an SPA at Philippine Consulate General Calgary and to have a holiday in Calgary and Edmonton.

We called it - 'Travel with a Purpose'.

Myself and my 2 kids ( husband was busy doing Google Map)

Lets Start:

What is Special Power of Attorney?

Appointing a Special Power of Attorney means legally authorizing another person  called an attorney-in-fact, the right to act on behalf of another person, known as the principal.

In other words, by writing a Special Power of Attorney (SPA), an individual is giving another person or designates another person to do a particular act in his or their behalf.

And because we are now living here in Canada, i need a trusted person to act in our behalf.

The most common use of Special Power of Attorney is when you are buying or selling a property in the Philippines. And you can also use a SPA if you need to sign an agreement or contract or managing a business in the Philippines.

The Special Power of  Attorney that we will be using in the Philippines need to be Consularized / Notarized by a Consular Officer at the Philippine Consulate General and because we are living in the Province of Saskatchewan, we need to go the the nearest PCG in Canada, and that is in Calgary. We shall need to appear personally and sign in PCG Calgary.

Philippine Consulate General Calgary
517 10 Avenue Southwest
9th floor, Suite 921, Calgary, AB
T2R 0A8
(NOTE: this picture is not the building of PCG, instead in front of this picture is the PCG Building, (sorry to confused you)

Requirements:

1. Documents to be notarized plus one photocopy of the said document/s.
2. Present Valid Photo Id/s (eg. Philippine Passport (Filipino Citizen), Canadian Passport (Canadian Citizen), Drivers License) plus one Photocopy of the said valid id.
3. Sign the document/s in front of the Consular Officer, with two witnesses signing over in their printed names in the document/s.
4. Fee: CAD 33.75 per document (CASH Only)

SOME TIPS:

The Philippine Consulate General Calgary does not have a public Photocopying machine, so before you go there, you need to photocopy your documents and valid ID/s already.

And also for you to save time, you  better do your Special Power of Attorney letter by yourself, although they also have the blank SPA form that you can use.

SAMPLE SPA BLANK FORM

What i did, i make the letter of SPA ahead of time, i draft a list of each special power i want to assign in the SPA that needs to be authorized, i photocopy the document (SPA) and the valid id.

And bring it all together (don't forget you need to bring the original valid photo id that you will be using.)

The documents will be released after 2 to 3 business days, so if you are out of the province of Alberta and don't want to go back just to get the document/s.
You have an option to mailed back the document/s to you.
You just need to bring and submit a self-addressed Xpresspost Envelope.

Xpresspost Envelope that we used.

Overall we only spent less than 30 minutes in processing the Special Power of Attorney Document.

And today May 2, i already received the Special Power of Attorney Documents and i am now preparing it to send in the Philippines.

If you have any comments or questions just put it on in a comment section of this Blog and i will do my best to answer you.