New procedure in service of notice of dishonor (2)
If personal service is not practicable, service may be effected by registered mail. Significantly, service through electronic means may likewise be undertaken.
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If personal service is not practicable, service may be effected by registered mail. Significantly, service through electronic means may likewise be undertaken.
Here is the continuation of my article last week regarding the service of notice of dishonor upon a person who issued a bum check.
The Supreme Court laid down how said service should now be done. “To that end, the Court finds it proper to apply to the service of notice of dishonor, as relevant herein, the same modes of service recognized in analogous cases where notice or demand is a condition precedent to legal action.
“Accordingly, service shall primarily be made personally. If personal service is not practicable, service may be effected by registered mail. Significantly, service through electronic means may likewise be undertaken, either as a primary mode or as a form of substituted service, in recognition of the evolving modes of communication and in line with the Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027.
“The applicable rules and requisites for each mode of service are set forth below.
“First, personal service may be effected by delivering a copy of the notice of dishonor directly to the drawer. However, when the drawer transacts or issues the check through a company or uses the company to act on their behalf in the usual commercial course of business, service may be made at the company’s office by delivering the notice of dishonor to a clerk or a person in charge of the usual receipt of documents.
“If no person is found in the office, or if the office is unknown or nonexistent, the notice may be left at the drawer’s residence, if known, between the hours of eight in the morning and six in the evening, with a person of sufficient age and discretion then residing therein.
“In all such cases of personal service, the person effecting service must execute an affidavit under oath, narrating with particularity the circumstances under which service was made, including the date, time, place and manner thereof, as well as the conduct of the recipient upon tender of the notice.
“To reinforce the affidavit, service must, whenever feasible, be documented through photographs and/or video recordings contemporaneous with the act of service, and be presented during trial for proper authentication under the Amended Rules of Court and Rules on Electronic Evidence.
“Its probative value lies in its authentication by the affiant or other competent witnesses who can credibly attest that the same was made at the very time and place of service of the notice.
“Second, if personal service is not practicable, the notice of dishonor may be served by registered mail. The notice shall be deposited in the post office in a sealed envelope, plainly addressed to the drawer, with postage fully prepaid, and with instructions to the postmaster to return the mail to the sender after 10 days if undelivered.
“If no registry service is available in the locality of either the sender or the addressee, service may be done by ordinary mail. Said service shall constitute the final notice that such check has not been paid for purposes of reckoning the five-banking-day period.
“In such case, the person effecting service shall execute an affidavit under oath, stating with particularity the circumstances under which service was made, including the date of mailing, the post office where the notice was deposited, the name and address of the drawer, and the registry number. The affidavit shall also state the reason why personal service was not practicable. A copy of the registry receipt and the return card shall be attached to the affidavit as supporting evidence.
“However, receipts for registered letters and return receipts do not by themselves prove receipt; therefore, they must be properly authenticated to serve as proof of receipt of the notice of dishonor. Accordingly, the signature on the registry return must be positively identified and authenticated as that of the drawer or of any person who received such notice of dishonor on his or her behalf.
“Third, service by electronic means may likewise be resorted to (a) as a primary mode of service if the email of the issuer of the check had been made available to the payee in official communications; or (b) as a substituted service, through other electronic means, when there is a clear showing that personal service is not practicable, including, but not limited to, instances where the drawer deliberately evades service, refuses receipt, unreasonably delays acknowledgment of the notice of dishonor, and/or causes the notice to be received by a person not duly authorized to accept the notice on his or her behalf.”
The redacted quoted portion of the decision is from SC GR 277047 (15 April 2026).
(To be continued)
