LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Module No. 4
R.A. 544: AN ACT TO REGULATE THE PRACTICE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN THE
PHILIPPINES

Topic:

Articles and Sections of Republic Act 544

Time Frame: 3 hours

Introduction:

Republic Act 544 is an act to regulate the practice of Civil Engineering in the
Philippines, which was approved on the 17th of July, 1950. It was amended by RA 1582, which
was also approved on the 16th of June 1956.

Objectives:

At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Interpret the provisions under the Republic Act 544.

Learning Activities:

ARTICLES AND SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT 544

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

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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.

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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.

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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 Engine

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Self-Evaluation Test:

Answer the following based on your understanding:

1. Discuss the powers and duties of the board.
2. Elaborate the penal provisions.

Review of Concept:

The Republic Act 544 shall be known as the “Civil Engineering Law”.
The term “civil engineer” as used in this act shall mean a person duly registered with the
Board for Civil Engineers in the manner provided by this act.
The second article of R.A. 544 discusses the composition of board, powers and duties of
the board, qualifications of board members, fees and compensation of board and annual
reports.
This act also provides the requirements for the examination and registration of a Civil
Engineer, the enforcement of act and penal provisions and some miscellaneous provisions.

References:

Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc. (2007). Manual of Professional Practice for Civil
Engineers, 3rd Edition. Manila: Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc.

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