Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Specialization Law of 1969

June 21, 1969

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5788

AN ACT TO AMEND AND REPEAL CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED FORTY-ONE HUNDRED TEN

SECTION 1. The title of Republic Act Numbered Forty-one hundred and ten is hereby amended to read as follows:

"An Act to provide for Specialization in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration in the Philippines."

SECTION 2. Section one of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 1. Title of Act. — This Act shall be known as the "Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Specialization Law."

SECTION 3. Certificate of Specialization. — The Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners is hereby authorized to issue certificate of Specialization in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration to registered professional mechanical engineers, after they shall have passed a special examination to be given by the Board.

"All certificates of specialization shall show the full name of the specialist, shall have a serial number, and shall be signed by all the members of the Board, and shall be attested by the official seal." aisa dc

SECTION 4. Section three of the same Act is hereby repealed.

SECTION 5. Section four of the same Act is hereby renumbered as Section three and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 3. Powers, vested in the Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners. — The Board is vested with authority conformably with the provisions of this amendatory Act, to administer the provisions thereof, to issue, suspend and revoke certificates of specialization in air conditioning and refrigeration and to administer oaths.

"In carrying into effect the provisions of this Act, the Board may, under the hand of its Chairman and the seal of the Board subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance, and also require the production of books, papers, documents, etc., in a case involving the revocation of registration, practice or offer to practice without registration. Any member of the Board may administer oaths or affirmation to witness appearing before the Board. If any person shall refuse to obey any subpoena so issued, or shall refuse to testify or produce any book, paper, document, etc., the Board may present its petition to the Court of First Instance, setting forth the facts, and thereupon such court shall, in a proper case, issue its subpoena requiring his attendance before such court and there to testify or to produce such books, papers, documents, etc., as may be deemed necessary and pertinent by the Board. Any person failing or refusing to obey any subpoena or order of the said court may be proceeded against in the same manner as for the refusal to obey any other subpoena or order of the court.

"The Board shall exercise the powers conferred upon it by this Act, shall have charge of the selection, development, preparation of all codes, recommended standards of practice in the field of air conditioning and refrigeration specialization and all revisions therein to be adopted by all specialists.

"It shall cooperate with other government agencies in the promotion and encouragement of research in the fields of air conditioning and refrigeration.

"The Board shall inspect at least once a year; refrigerating engineering works, projects or plants, corporation established in the Philippines, for the purpose of adequately safeguarding life, health and property; and shall discharge such other powers and duties as may affect ethical and technological standards of the air conditioning and refrigeration specialization in the Philippines.

"For the purpose of this Act the Director of Bureau of Labor Standards and/or his duly authorized representative in the provinces and such other competent registered engineers of 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. "

SECTION 6. Section five of the same Act is hereby repealed.

SECTION 7. Section six of the same Act shall be renumbered as Section four.

SECTION 8. Section seven of the same Act is hereby repealed.

SECTION 9. Section eight of the same Act is hereby renumbered as Section five and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 5. Compensation of the Board. — The members of the Board shall each receive as compensation the sum of ten pesos for each applicant examined. All fees shall be received by the permanent collecting officer designated by the Board of Examiners, and such officer shall pay all authorized expenses of the Board, including the compensation provided for by this Act for the members of the Board."

SECTION 10. Sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen of the same Act are hereby repealed.

SECTION 11. Section seventeen of the same Act is hereby renumbered as Section six and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 6. Scope of Examination. — The scope and procedure of the examination shall be prescribed by the Board with special reference to the applicant's ability and experience in air conditioning and refrigeration, and to prove that said applicant has sufficient technological knowledge to insure safety to life, health and property as well as economy and efficiency in the design, construction, installation, maintenance, operation, organization and management of air conditioning and refrigerating plants or works."

SECTION 12. Section eighteen of the same Act is renumbered as Section seven and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 7. Report of Ratings. — The Board shall, within one hundred twenty days after the date of the completion of the examinations, report the ratings obtained by each candidate to the Commissioner of Civil Service, who shall submit such ratings to the President of the Republic of the Philippines."

SECTION 13. Section nineteen, twenty and twenty-one of the same Act are hereby repealed.

SECTION 14. Section twenty-two of the same Act is renumbered as Section eight and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 8. Seal of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Specialist. — Each registrant for the title of air conditioning and refrigeration specialist shall, upon registration, obtain, a seal of design prescribed by the Board, bearing the registrant's name, the certificate number, and the legend "Air Conditioning and Registration Specialist" Plans, specifications, price quotations, reports and other professional documents prepared by or executed under the immediate supervision of, and issued by a specialist, shall be stamped on every sheet with said seal when filed with government authorities or when submitted or used professionally: Provided, That it shall be unlawful for any person to stamp or seal any document with said seal after the certificate of the specialist named therein has been revoked or suspended, unless said certificate shall have been reinstated or reissued."

SECTION 15. Section twenty-three of the same Act is renumbered as Section nine is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 9. Fees for examination. — Every applicant for examination for the title of air conditioning and refrigeration specialist, shall pay an examination fee of fifty pesos."

SECTION 16. Section twenty-four of the same Act is renumbered as Section ten and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 10. Refusal to issue a certificate. — The Board shall refuse to 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 of unsound mind. In the event of a refusal to issue a certificate for 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 record of the Board."

SECTION 17. Section twenty-five of the same Act is renumbered as Section eleven and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 11. Suspension and revocation of certificates. — The Board shall have the power, upon proper notice and hearing, to suspend or revoke any certificate of specialization of any registrant for any cause specified in the preceding section, or for the use or perpetration of any fraud or deceit in obtaining a certificate of specialization, or for gross negligence or incompetency, or for unethical practice or dishonorable and unprofessional conduct: Provided, however, That the action of the Board shall be subject to appeal to the President.

"It shall be sufficient ground for the revocation of a certificate issued under this Act for unethical practice or dishonorable and unprofessional conduct, that he has: (1) signed and affixed his seal on any plans, designs, technical reports, valuations, specifications, quotations, estimates, or other similar documents, or works not prepared by him; (2) represented himself as having taken charge of, undertaken or supervised the design, construction, erection, installation, or alteration of an air conditioning or refrigeration works, projects or plant, without actually having done so; (3) represented himself as having performed air conditioning or refrigeration service in connection with the manufacture, sale, supply or distributing of mechanical equipment, machinery or process, without actually having done so; or (4) represented himself as having managed, operated, tended, or maintained an air conditioning or refrigerating works, project or plant without actually having done so. casia

"Any person or persons, firm, association, or corporation may prefer charges in accordance with the provisions of this section, against any specialist; or the Board itself may "motu proprio"investigate and/or take cognizance of acts or practice constituting sufficient cause for suspension or revocation of the certificate by proper resolution or order. Such charges shall be in writing, and shall be sworn to by the person making them and shall be filed with the Secretary of the Board."

SECTION 18. Section twenty-six of the same Act is renumbered as Section twelve and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 12. Reissue of revoked certificates and replacement of lost certificate. — The Board may, after the expiration of one year from the date of revocation of a certificate, for reasons it may deem sufficient, entertain an application for a new certificate of specialization from a person whose certificate has been revoked in the same manner as application for original ones, and in doing so it may, at its discretion, exempt the applicant from the necessity of undergoing an examination.

"A new certificate of specialization to replace any certificate lost, destroyed or mutilated may be issued, subject to the rules of the Board, and a charge of twenty pesos shall be made for such issuance."

SECTION 19. Section twenty-seven of the same Act is renumbered as Section thirteen and is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 13. Penal provision. — Any person who shall represent himself as an air conditioning or refrigeration specialist in the Philippines without being registered, or any person presenting or attempting to use as his own the certificate or the seal of another, or any person who shall give any false or forged evidence of any kind to the Board or to any member thereof in obtaining a certificate of specialization, or any person who shall falsely impersonate any specialist of like or different name, or any person who shall attempt to use a revoked or suspended certificate of specialization, 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 an air conditioning and refrigeration specialist or any person who shall violate any of the provisions 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 one thousand pesos, or to suffer imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, or both, in the discretion of the court." aisa dc

SECTION 20. Sections twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two of the same Act, are hereby repealed.

SECTION 21. Sections thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five and thirty-six of the same Act are hereby renumbered as Sections fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen, respectively.

SECTION 22. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 21, 1969.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 66, No. 3, p. 511 on January 19, 1970