Service upon absent or unknown defendants.
Section 398
SEC. 398. Service upon absent or unknown defendants. — Where the person on whom service is to be made resides out of the Philippine Islands, or has departed therefrom, or can not, after due diligence, be found within the Islands, or conceals himself to avoid the service of summons, or is a foreign corporation having no managing or business agent, cashier, or secretary within the Islands, and the fact appears by affidavit to the satisfaction of the judge of the court where the action is pending, and it also appears by such affidavit that a cause of action exists against the defendant in respect to whom the service is to be made, or that he is a necessary or proper party to the action; and when it appears by such affidavit, or by the complaint on file that it is an action which relates to, or the subject of which is real or personal property within the Islands, in which such person defendant or foreign corporation defendant, has or claims a lien or interest, actual or contingent, or in which the relief demanded consists wholly or in part in excluding such person or foreign corporation from any interest therein, such judge may make an order that the service may be made by publication of the order which shall fix the date on which the defendant is required to appear.