An Act to Regulate the Practice of

Civil Engineering in the Philippines

 Article I
TITLE OF THE ACT AND DEFINITION OF TERMS

Section 1. Title of Act.” This Act shall be known as the “Civil Engineering Law.”

Section 2. Definition of Terms.”

(a) The practice of civil engineering within the meaning and intent of this Act
shall embrace services in the form of consultation, design, preparation of plans,
specifications, estimates, erection, installation and supervision of the
construction of streets, bridges, highways, railroads, airports and hangars, port
works, canals, river and shore improvements, lighthouses, and dry docks;
buildings, fixed structures for irrigation, flood protection, drainage, water
supply and sewerage works; demolition of permanent structures; and tunnels.
The enumeration of any work in this section shall not be construed as excluding
any other work requiring civil engineering knowledge and application
(b) The term “civil engineer” as used in this act shall mean a person duly
registered with the Board for Civil Engineers in the manner as hereinafter
provided.

Article II
BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS

Section 3. Composition of Board.” Within thirty days after the approval of this
Act there shall be created a Board of Examiners for Civil Engineers, hereinafter
referred to as the Board, to be composed of a chairman and two members who
shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, upon recommendation of
the Commissioner of PRC. The members of the Board shall hold office for a term
of three years after appointment or until their successors shall have been
appointed and shall have qualified.
The first members of the Board appointed under this Act shall hold office for the following
terms: One member for one year; one member for two years; and one member for three
years. Each member of the Board shall qualify by taking the proper oath of office before
entering upon the performance of his duties. Any member of the Board may be removed by
the President of the Philippines, upon recommendation by the Professional Regulation
Commission for neglect of duty, incompetency, malpractice, unprofessional, unethical,
immoral, or dishonorable conduct, after having been given opportunity to defend himself in
a proper administrative investigation: Provided, That during the process of investigation,
the President of the Philippines, upon the recommendation of the PRC, shall have the power
to suspend such member under investigation and shall appoint a temporary member in his
place. Vacancies in the Board shall be filled for the un expired term only.

Section 4. Powers and Duties of the Board.” The Board for Civil Engineers is vested with
authority, conformable with the provisions of this Act, to administer oaths, issue, suspend
and revoke certificates of registration for the practice of civil engineering, issue certificates
of recognition to civil engineers already registered under this Act for advanced studies,
research, and/or highly specialized training in any branch of civil engineering subject to the
approval of the PRC, to investigate such violations of this Act and the regulations, there
under as may come to the knowledge of the Board and, for this purpose, issue
subpoena and subpoena duces tecum to secure appearance of witnesses in
connection with the charges presented to the Board, to inspect at least once a
year educational institutions offering courses in civil engineering, civil
engineering works, projects or corporations, established in the Philippines and,
for safeguarding of life, health and property, to discharge such other powers and
duties as may affect ethical and technological standards of the civil engineering
profession in the Philippines. For the purpose of this Act, the Director of Public
Works and/or his authorized representative in the provinces and chartered
cities shall be ex-officio agents of the Board and as such it shall be their duty to
help in the enforcement of the provisions of this Act. The Board may, with the
approval of the Professional Regulation Commission issue such rules and
regulations as may be deemed necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
The board shall also adopt a code of ethics in the practice of civil engineering
and have an official seal to authenticate its official documents.
Section 5. Qualifications of Board Members.” Each member of the Board shall,
at the time of his appointment:

a. Be a citizen and resident of the Philippines;

b. Be at least thirty years of age and of good moral character;
c. Be a graduate of civil engineering from a recognized and legally constituted
school, institute, college or university.
d. Be a registered civil engineer duly qualified to practice civil engineering in the
Philippines;
e. Have practiced civil engineering, with a certificate as such, for a period of not
less than ten years prior to his appointment.
f. Not be a member of the faculty of any school, institute, college, or university
where civil engineering course is taught, nor have a pecuniary interest in
such institutions;
g. No former members of the faculty of any school, institute or university where
civil engineering is taught can become a member of the Board unless he had
stopped teaching for at least three consecutive years.
Section 6. Fees and Compensation of Board.” The Board for Civil Engineers
shall charge for each application for examination the sum of P100 (one
hundred) payable to the collecting and disbursing officer of the PRC upon filing
of said application, and for each certificate of registration, fifty pesos. Each
member of the Board shall receive a compensation of fifteen pesos for each
applicant examined. A civil engineer in the service of the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines appointed as member of the Board shall receive the
compensation as herein provided, in addition to his salary in the Government.
All authorized expenses of the Board, including the compensation provided for
herein, shall be paid by the collecting and disbursing officer of the PRC out of
such appropriation as may be made for the purpose. (See RA 6511 & PD 223)

Section 7. Annual Report.” The Board shall, at the end of each fiscal year,
submit to the PRC a detailed report of its activities and proceedings during the
period covered by the fiscal year ended.
 Article III
EXAMINATION AND REGISTRATION

Section 8. Examination Requirement.” All applicants for registration for the

practice of civil engineering shall berequired to pass a technical examination as
hereinafter provided.

Section 9. Holding of Examination.” Examination of candidates desiring to

practice civil engineering in the Philippines shall be given in the City of Manila
of each year, provided that such days do not fall on official holidays, otherwise
the examinations shall be held on the days next following.

Section 10. Subjects of Examination.” Applicants for certificate of registration as civil

engineer shall be examined, in the discretion of the Board, on the following subjects:
mathematics, including algebra, plane and spherical trigonometry, analytics,
descriptive and solid geometry, differential and integral calculus, and rational and
applied mechanics; hydraulics; surveying, including highway and railroad surveying;
plane, topographic and hydrographic surveying, and advance surveying; design and
construction of highways and railroads, masonry structures, wooden and reinforced
concrete buildings, bridges, towers, walls, foundations, piers, ports, wharves,
aqueducts, sanitary engineering works, water supply systems, dikes, dams and
irrigation and drainage canals.
Section 11. Executive Officer of the Board.” The Commissioner of Professional
Regulation Commission shall be the executive officer of the Board and shall conduct
the examinations given by the said Board. He shall designate any subordinate officer of
the Professional Regulation Commission to act as the Secretary and custodian of all
records including examination papers and minutes of the deliberation of the Board.

Section 12. Qualifications for Examination.” Any person applying for admission to the
civil engineering examination as herein provided shall, prior to the date of the
examination, establish to the satisfaction of the Board that he has the following
qualifications:
a. Be at least twenty-one years of age;
b. Be a citizen of the Philippines;
c. Be of good reputation and moral character; and
d. Be a graduate of a four-year course in civil engineering from a school, institute,
college or university recognized by the Government or the State wherein it is
established.
Section 13. Oath of Civil Engineers.” All successful candidates in the examination
shall be required to take a professional oath before the Board of Civil Engineers or
other Government Officials authorized to administer oaths, prior to entering upon the
practice of the civil engineering profession.

Section 14. Seal and Use of Seal.” All registered civil engineers shall obtain a seal of
such design as the Board shall authorize and direct: Provided, however, That the serial
number of the certificate issued by the Board shall be included in the design of the
seal. Plans and specifications prepared by, or under the direct supervision of a
registered civil engineer shall be stamped with said seal during the life of the
registrant’s certificate, and it shall be unlawful for any one to stamp or seal any
documents with said seal after the certificate of registrant named thereon has expired
or has been revoked, unless said certificate shall have been renewed or re-issued.

Section 15. Exemption from Registration.”

1. Registration shall not be required of the following persons:
a. Officers or enlisted men of the United States and Philippine Armed Forces, and
civilian employees of the Government of the United States stationed in the Philippines
while rendering civil engineering services for the United States and/or Philippines.
b. Civil engineers or experts called in by the Philippine Government for consultation,
or specific design and construction of fixed structures as defined under this Act,
provided that their practice shall be limited to such work.
2. Any person residing in the Philippines may make plans on specifications for any of
the following:
a. Any building in chartered cities or in towns with building ordinances, not exceeding
the space requirement specified therein, requiring the services of a civil engineer.
b. Any wooden building enlargement or alteration which is to be used for farm
purposes only and costing not more than ten thousand pesos.
c. Provided, however. That there shall be nothing in this Act that will prevent any
person from constructing his own (wooden or light material) residential house,
utilizing the services of a person or persons required for the purpose, without the
use of a civil engineer, as long as he does no violate local ordinances of the place
where the building is to be constructed.
3. Nor shall anything in this Act prevent draftsmen, student clerk-or-work,
superintendents, and other employees of those lawfully engaged in the practice of civil
engineering under the provisions of this Act, from acting under the instruction, control
or supervision of their employer.
4. Nor shall anything in this Act prevent any person who prior to the approval of this
Act have been lawfully engaged in the practice of “maestro de obras” to continue as
such, provided they shall not undertake the making of plans supervision for the
following classes of work:
a. Building of concrete whether reinforced or not.
b. Building of more than two stories.
c. Building with frames of structural steel.
d. Building of structures intended for public gathering or assemblies such as theaters,
cinematographs, stadia, churches, or structures of like nature.
5. Nor shall anything in this Act prevent professional architects and engineers to
practice their professions.

Section 16. Refusal to Issue Certificate.” The Board for Civil Engineers shall not issue a
certificate to any person convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of any criminal
offense involving moral turpitude, or to any person guilty of immoral or dishonorable
conduct, or to any person guilty of immoral or dishonorable conduct, or to any person of
unsound mind. In the event of a refusal to issue a certificate to any person, the Board shall
give to the applicant a written statement setting forth its reason for such action, which
statement shall be incorporated in the records of the Board.
Section 17. Suspension and Revocation of Certificates. “ The Board shall have the
power, after due notice and hearings to suspend or revoke the certificate of registration
for any cause mentioned in the preceding section.

Section 18. Re-issue and Replacement of Certificates. “ The Board may, after the
expiration of one year from the date of certificate of registration is revoked and for
reasons it may deem sufficient, entertain an application for a new certificate of
registration from the registrant concerned. Such application shall be accomplished in
the same form prescribed for examination, but the Board may, in its discretion, exempt
the applicant from taking the requisite examination

Section 19. Transitory Provisions.” As soon as this Act takes effect, any person
desiring to practice the profession of civil engineering shall be required to obtain a
certificate of registration in the manner and under the conditions hereinafter provided.
All civil engineers duly licensed under the provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-nine
hundred and eighty-five, as amended, at the time this Act takes effect, shall be
automatically registered under the provisions hereof. Certificates of registration held by
such persons in good standing shall have the same force and effect as though the same
have been issued under the provisions of this Act. All graduates in civil engineering
from a school, institute, college, or university recognized by the Government who have
passed the civil service examination for senior civil engineer and have been practicing
or employed in the Government as such during five years are exempted from taking
examination.
 Article IV
ENFORCEMENT OF ACT AND PENAL PROVISIONS

Section 20. Enforcement of the Act by officers of the law.” It shall be the duty of
all duly constituted law officers of the national, provincial, city and municipal
governments, or any political subdivisions thereof, to enforce the provisions of
this Act and to prosecute any person violating the same.

Section 21. Registration required.” Unless exempt from registration, no person

shall practice or offer to practice civil engineering in the Philippines without
having obtained the proper certificate of registration from the Board for Civil
Engineers.*
Section 22. Penal provisions.” Any person who shall practice or offer to practice
civil engineering in the Philippines without being registered in accordance with
the provisions of this Act or any person presenting or attempting to use as his
own the certificate of registration of a registered civil engineer, or any person
who shall give any false or forged evidence of any kind to the Board, or any
person who shall impersonate any registrant civil engineer of different name or
any person who shall attempt to use a revoked or suspended certificate of
registration, or any person who shall use in connection with his name or
otherwise assume, use or advertise any title or description tending to convey the
impression that he is a civil engineer, without holding a valid certificate of
registration, or any person who shall violate any of the provision of this Act,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to a
fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than two thousand pesos, or
to suffer imprisonment for a period of not less than six months not more than
one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.
 Article V
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Section 23. Preparation of plans and supervisions of construction by registered

civil engineer.” It shall be unlawful for any person to order or otherwise cause
the construction, reconstruction, or alteration of any building or structure
intended for public gathering or assembly such as theaters, cinematographs,
stadia, churches or structures of like nature, and any other engineering
structures mentioned in section two of this Act unless the designs, plans, and
specifications of same have been prepared under the responsible charge of, and
signed and sealed by a registered civil engineer, and unless the construction,
reconstruction and/or alteration thereof are executed under the responsible
charge and direct supervision of a civil engineer. Plans and designs of
structures must be approved as provided by law or ordinance of a city or
province or municipality where the said structure is to be constructed.
Section 24. The practice of civil engineering is a professional service, admission
to which must be determined upon individual, personal qualifications. Hence,
no firm, partnership, corporation or association may be registered or licensed as
such for the practice of civil engineering: Provided, however, That persons
properly registered and licensed as civil engineers may, among themselves or
with a person or persons properly registered and licensed as architects, form,
and obtain registration of, a firm, partnership or association using the term
“Engineers” or “Engineers and Architects,” but, nobody shall be a member or
partner of such firm, partnership or association unless he is duly licensed civil
engineer or architect, and the members who are civil engineers shall only render
work and services proper for a civil engineer, as defined in this Act, and the
members who are architects shall also only render work and services proper for
an architect, as defined in the law regulating the practice of architecture;
individual members of such firms, partnership or association shall be
responsible for their own respective acts.
Section 25. Reciprocity requirements.” No person who is not a citizen of the
Philippines at the time he applies to take the examination shall be allowed to
take it unless he can prove in the manner provided by the Rules of Court that,
by specific provision of law, the country of which he is a citizen, subject, or
national either admits citizens of the Philippines to the practice of the same
profession without restriction or allows them to practice it after an examination
on terms of strict and absolute equality with citizens, subjects, or nationals of
the country concerned, including the unconditional recognition of degrees
issued by institutions of learning duly recognized for the purpose by the
Government of the Philippines: Provided, That if he is not a citizen of the
Philippines, and was admitted to the practice of a profession in the Philippines
after December 8, 1941, his active practice in that profession, either in the
Philippines or in the state or country where he was practicing his profession,
shall not have been interrupted for a period of two years or more prior to July 4,
1946, and that the country or state from which he comes allows the citizens of
the Philippines by specific provision of law, to practice the same profession
without restriction or on terms of strict and absolute equality with citizens,
subjects or nationals of the country or state concerned.
Section 26. Roster of civil engineers.” A roster showing the names and places of
business of all registered civil engineers shall be prepared by the Commissioner of PRC
periodically but at least once a year. Copies of this roster shall be placed on file with
the PRC and furnished to all department heads, mayors of all chartered cities, to the
Director of Public Works, to such other Bureaus, government entities or agencies and
municipal and provincial authorities as may be deemed necessary and to the public
upon request.

Section 27. Repeal.” All laws, parts of laws, orders, ordinances, or regulations in
conflict with the provisions hereof; including parts of Act Numbered Twenty-nine
hundred and eighty-five, as amended, as pertains to the practice of civil engineering,
are hereby repealed, except the provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-one hundred and
fifty nine amending Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and eighty-five, pertaining to
the practice of “maestro de obras.”

Section 28. Construction of Act.” If any part or section of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional, such declarations shall not invalidate the other provisions hereof.

Section 29. Effectivity.” This Act shall take effect upon its approval.