Affidavits in the Philippines: Types, Sample Structure, Where to Get One and What It Costs

How to Get an Affidavit in the Philippines: The Short Version

An affidavit is a written statement of fact sworn to by the person making it, and it only takes effect once that person signs and swears before a notary public. Four steps: draft the content, bring valid ID, appear personally to sign and swear, and have the notary notarise and enter it in the notarial register. Done well, it takes under half an hour.

Two distinctions matter. An affidavit is not a contract. It is a one-sided statement of fact where you declare that something is true, not an agreement between parties. Notarisation here is a lawyer function. A Philippine notary public must be a practising lawyer holding a current notarial commission, which is different from the administrative notary offices found in many countries. That is why you go to a law office, not a government hall. The framework is the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, and current rules and court issuances govern in case of change.

One point people misread constantly: the content is your statement. The notary verifies your identity and the fact that you swore to it in person, not the truth of what you wrote. Which is precisely why a false statement in an affidavit can expose you to perjury liability. Do not treat it as a formality, and do not sign a version drafted by someone else without reading every line, because the statement becomes yours the moment you swear to it. General notarisation practice is covered in how notarisation works in the Philippines.

Worth knowing before you go: an affidavit is evidence, not a decision. It tells an office what you say happened, and that office remains free to ask for more. A bank may still want a police report alongside your affidavit of loss, and immigration may still want the underlying record. So treat the affidavit as one component of a file rather than the whole solution, and ask what else goes with it in the same conversation.

The Affidavit Types You Will Actually Be Asked For: Loss, Discrepancy, One and the Same Person, Undertaking

Identify the type before you go, and you save yourself a wasted trip. These are the ones that come up most often for foreign residents:

• Affidavit of Loss. For lost documents, cards and receipts. Replacing an ACR card, a driver licence, a bank card, a SIM or a vehicle document almost always requires one.
• Affidavit of Discrepancy, or One and the Same Person. Used when spelling or middle name differs across your passport, birth record, diploma or bank file, to declare that the names refer to one person. Extremely common for Chinese nationals and Chinese-Filipino families, and closely related to name spelling mismatches across documents.
• Affidavit of Undertaking. A commitment to an institution to submit something later, accept a responsibility or comply with a condition. Schools, immigration and banks all use it.
• Affidavit of Support and Consent. Financial support for a relative, or consent for a minor to travel, enrol or receive treatment. Minors travelling without both parents also face the separate clearance covered in DSWD travel clearance for minors.
• Affidavit of No Income or Affidavit of Residency. Used in place of formal documentation for tuition assistance, social services and some bank or government procedures.
• Affidavit of Two Disinterested Persons. Where an official record is missing or wrong, two people with no stake in the matter state the facts. Frequently used alongside corrections to PSA birth records.

One category often confused with affidavits: authority documents. Sometimes what the counter actually wants is a Special Power of Attorney or a simple authorisation letter, which serve different purposes, as explained in writing an authorisation letter in the Philippines. The safest move is to ask the office demanding the document exactly which type they need and whether they have a template. Many institutions do.

How to Write an Affidavit of Loss, Paragraph by Paragraph

An affidavit of loss has a fixed structure, and it is complete once six elements are present: who you are, what was lost, when and how, that you searched, what it is for, and the jurat. Here is what goes in each part:

• Heading and venue. Republic of the Philippines, the city where it is executed, and the title AFFIDAVIT OF LOSS.
• First paragraph, identity. Full name, nationality, statement of legal age, residence address, and the identification document and number you presented.
• Second paragraph, the item. Describe it to the point of being identifiable: document name, number, issuing authority, date of issue. A wrong number is the single most common reason these come back, so verify before you draft.
• Third paragraph, circumstances. Date, place and how it happened. Be specific but do not invent detail. If the exact date is unclear, write approximately and the month.
• Fourth paragraph, diligent search. State that you searched and could not recover it, and that it remains missing.
• Fifth paragraph, purpose. State that the affidavit supports a replacement application or is for the records of a named institution. For the ACR card specifically see replacing a lost ACR I-Card.
• Closing. The sworn statement and signature line, leaving space for the notary to complete the jurat.

Three practical notes. Most law offices already have a template, so you can simply narrate the facts, but bring the exact document number. If the loss involved theft, file a police report or blotter entry first, because many institutions want both. And if a phone, SIM and e-wallet went missing together, block and freeze first, notarise second, in the order set out in blocking your SIM and e-wallet after a phone theft.

Where to Find a Notary Public: How to Choose

Go to a law office, or to any of the Notary Public signs clustered around city halls, regional trial courts and larger malls. During office hours it is normally walk-in. The density of commissioned notaries in Philippine cities is high, and the streets around a city hall usually have a row of them.

Check three things. Is the notarial commission current and for the right jurisdiction? Commissions are granted per city or province and expire, and a document notarised outside the commissioned territory can be rejected. Is it entered in the notarial register on the spot? A compliant notarisation records the document number, page number, book number and series year on the document itself. Will the lawyer explain it to you? A proper notary confirms you understand what you are swearing to before you sign.

Three things to avoid. Street fixers, who may be using someone else's notarial seal while you carry the consequences. Any service that offers to notarise without you appearing, which is non-compliant by definition. And quotes far below the going rate, which usually means nothing is being registered. The general risk pattern is the same across Philippine agencies, as described in why using a fixer is a bad trade.

If the underlying matter is complex, involving property, inheritance, cross-border effect or corporate liability, do not just find a stamp. Pay for one consultation and have the lawyer draft it. A loosely worded affidavit can be used against you later. Finding counsel is covered in how a foreigner hires a lawyer in the Philippines.

Two smaller practicalities that make the visit go faster. Bring the underlying paperwork, not just the numbers, because a notary who can see the old ID copy or the account statement will draft a tighter description of what was lost. And go early in the day. Notarial desks near courts empty out in the afternoon when lawyers have hearings, and arriving at four in the afternoon is the most common reason a simple errand turns into two trips.

Wary of roadside fixers, and unsure what the wording commits you to? → interpreter accompaniment and document handling

What an Affidavit Costs: The Three Components

The cost of a standard affidavit has three parts: drafting (often zero when a template is used), the notarial fee, and documentary stamp tax. Routine affidavits of loss and discrepancy sit at the cheapest end, typically in the low hundreds of pesos. Anything needing bespoke drafting, or touching property or cross-border use, costs materially more.

Four factors move the price: whether drafting is required, rush or on-site service, location (Makati and BGC law firms quote well above the notarial desks near a city hall), and page count and number of original copies, since some offices charge per copy. Integrated Bar of the Philippines chapters publish suggested fee guidance, but firms set their own rates, so rely on the quote you are given and the latest official issuances rather than any fixed figure quoted online.

Three ways to save money and trouble. Execute several originals at once, because many institutions keep the original and will not return it, and the marginal cost of extra copies is far below a second trip. Ask upfront whether authentication is needed, since notarisation is only step one if the document will be used abroad and the later steps carry separate costs. And compare on time rather than price, because notarisation is a thirty-minute task and travelling far to save a small amount rarely pays.

One more constraint: banks, immigration and schools often require an affidavit to have been executed within a recent window, and older ones must be redone. Typical validity conventions are collected in how long Philippine documents stay valid.

A note on what you are really buying. The notarial fee is small, and the value sits in the registration: a properly entered notarisation can be traced back to the notarial register held by the commissioning court, which is what makes the document verifiable years later. That is the entire reason a cheap unregistered stamp is worthless. When you compare quotes, you are comparing whether that record will exist, not whether a seal gets applied.

Do You Have to Appear in Person? Remote and Proxy Options

Yes, you must appear. The affiant has to be physically present before the notary, present competent evidence of identity, and sign and swear in front of them. Sending a pre-signed document with someone else to be stamped is non-compliant and is the most common way these documents are later invalidated.

On remote notarisation: the Philippines allowed conditional videoconference notarisation during an exceptional period, and whether it is currently available, for which document types and under what conditions depends on the current Supreme Court rules and the issuances of the relevant court jurisdiction. Do not act on second-hand knowledge from a few years ago. Confirm with the notary before you plan around it, and default to appearing in person.

Three legitimate alternatives exist. If you are abroad, you can execute the document at a Philippine embassy or consulate, or notarise locally and then have it authenticated, as set out in apostille and consular authentication. If you cannot travel because of hospitalisation or disability, some lawyers offer on-site notarisation, which still means the notary comes to you rather than you being absent. If you want someone to act for you, the instrument is not a proxy-signed affidavit but a Special Power of Attorney that you sign and notarise yourself.

Do not be casual about identification either. Expired documents, photocopies and photos are generally not accepted. Foreign nationals normally present a passport, and bringing the ACR card as well is sensible. On carrying originals, see whether to carry your passport or a copy. If your passport is in process somewhere, sort that out before booking the notarial appointment rather than hoping a photocopy will pass, because it generally will not.

Seven Reasons Affidavits Get Rejected at the Counter

Rejections are almost always about form, not substance. In rough order of frequency:

• Incomplete notarial details: missing document number, page, book, series year or notarial commission information.
• Expired or out-of-jurisdiction commission: notarised outside the territory the commission covers.
• No documentary stamp: some institutions check for this and return the document without it.
• Wrong reference number: the document number in the affidavit does not match the record being replaced. The classic fatal error in an affidavit of loss.
• Alterations: handwritten corrections, correction fluid or crossed-out text usually void the document. Reprinting is faster than fixing.
• Wrong instrument: the office wanted an SPA or an undertaking and received a general sworn statement.
• Too old: outside the recency window the receiving institution accepts.

A special case: an affidavit intended for use in China or another country. Notarisation is only the first step, followed by authentication or apostille through the Department of Foreign Affairs and any further steps the receiving country requires, usually alongside a compliant translation. See sworn translation in the Philippines and getting Philippine documents recognised in China. Confirm the exact form of authentication the recipient wants before you start, not after the notarisation is done.

One habit worth building: check the notarised copy before you leave the office. Name spelling, reference number, date and notarial details, all four, in front of the lawyer. That minute saves an entire return trip.

Finally, keep your own copies. Scan every notarised affidavit and store it somewhere you can reach from a phone, because the same statements recur: the discrepancy affidavit you executed for a bank will be wanted again by a school, an employer and eventually immigration. Reusing an existing text costs nothing, while reconstructing the facts and the exact reference numbers years later costs an afternoon.