Engineering and Architecture Law

February 23, 1921

ACT NO. 2985

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE PRACTICE OF THE PROFESSIONS OF ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the "Engineering and Architecture Law." EcTCAD

SECTION 2. As soon as this Act takes effect, all persons desiring to practice the professions of engineer or architect shall be required to obtain licenses in the manner and under the conditions hereinafter provided.

SECTION 3. Thirty days after the approval of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and Communications shall for each of the professions of civil engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, mining engineer, chemical engineer, and architect, appoint a board of examiners composed of three members each, who shall elect a chairman and secretary-treasurer from among their number: Provided, That to be member of any of said boards, the following qualifications shall be required:

1. To be of good moral conduct;

2. To be twenty-five years of age;

3. To have graduated in architecture or in the branch of engineering for which he is to be examiner, from a reputable and legally constituted college, school or university;

4. To have practised the profession for a period of not less than five years previous to his appointment; HSAcaE

5. Not to be a member of the faculty of any school, college or university teaching any branch of engineering or architecture that is his profession;

6. Not to have any pecuniary interest in any of said institutions.

SECTION 4. Each person appointed to any of the boards mentioned in section three of this Act, before entering upon the performance of his duties and acting as member of such board, shall take and subscribe the following oath:

"I, _________________________, having been appointed a member of the Board of Examiners of Engineers and Architects of the Philippine Islands, do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have been practising the profession of __________________________ since the year ____________; that I will well and truly perform the duties of my office; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Government of the United States of America and to the Government of the Philippine Islands; and that I take this oath (or affirmation) without any mental reservation whatsoever. So help me God."

This oath shall be recorded and filed in the office of the Secretary of Commerce and Communications. HESIcT

SECTION 5. The members of the boards shall be appointed for a term of one year, beginning with the date of their appointment or until their successors are duly qualified. Any vacancies occurring prior to the expiration of the term of office shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired portion of the term of office only. EATCcI

SECTION 6. The Boards of Examiners shall organize immediately after the appointment of their members and shall be under the Secretary of Commerce and Communications. Subject to the approval of the latter, said boards shall issue all rules and regulations in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 7. The Boards of Examiners shall charge for each application for examination the sum of thirty pesos and for each certificate of registration, ten pesos.

SECTION 8. The Boards shall meet in the city of Manila for the purpose of holding sessions and examinations, on the second Monday not a holiday of January and July of each year, upon at least thirty days notice published in two of the most widely read newspapers of the locality, one in English and the other in Spanish. Each member of the Boards of Examiners shall receive a compensation of ten pesos for each day of session of the Board. All sums collected in accordance with this Act shall be paid into the Insular Treasury as part of the general funds thereof, and all expenses of the Boards shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for said purpose in the general appropriation acts. The Boards shall have a seal to authenticate their official documents. The secretary-treasurer shall keep a record of the proceedings of the Board, an account book and a register of the persons to whom licenses have been issued, setting forth the name, age, marital condition, residence, post-office address, and the name of the institution from which he graduated and in which he studied. The Boards of Examiners shall, during the first days of January of each year, present to the Secretary of Commerce and Communications a detailed report of all their work during the year. caITAC

SECTION 9. The subjects in which applicants for engineer's or architect's certificates shall be examined, are:

CIVIL ENGINEER

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus, descriptive geometry and stereotomy; surveying; geology; rational and applied mechanics; hydraulics; resistance of materials; construction materials; foundations; geodesy and astronomy; designing and construction of railroads, bridges, roads, canals, ports, wharves, lighthouses, dikes, aqueducts, municipal irrigation works, water supply systems, sanitation of cities and towns, drainage, industrial, sanitary, hydraulic, structural, and other works of public or private utility.

MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus; rational and applied mechanics; hydraulics; resistance of materials; construction materials; foundations; and designing, construction, and installation of steam engines, turbines, internal combustion engines and other mechanical structures and apparatus, as well as works for the development, transmission or application of motive power. ICHDca

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus; surveying; geology; rational and applied mechanics; hydraulics; resistance of materials; construction materials; foundations; and designing, construction, and installation of electrical machinery and apparatus, and other work for the development and transmission of electric current.

MINING ENGINEER

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus, descriptive geometry and stereotomy; surveying; geology; rational and applied mechanics; hydraulics; resistance of materials; construction materials; foundations; geodesy and astronomy; general chemistry; organic and inorganic chemistry; qualitative and quantitative chemistry; microscopy; metallurgy; and designing, construction, and installation of apparatus and work for mining operations. TCAScE

CHEMICAL ENGINEER

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus; geology; rational and applied mechanics; hydraulics; resistance of materials; construction materials; general chemistry; organic and inorganic chemistry; qualitative and quantitative chemistry; analytical chemistry and electro-analysis; static chemistry; dynamics and electrochemistry; industrial chemistry applied to engineering and manufacture of industrial products.

ARCHITECT

Mathematics, including differential and integral calculus, descriptive geometry and stereotomy; surveying; perspective and shades; rational and applied mechanics; construction materials; geology; resistance of materials; architecture, architectural design and construction; hygiene, sanitation, designing, and beautification of cities and towns. cTDaEH

SECTION 10. Applicants for examination in any branch of engineering or architecture shall have the following qualifications:

1. Be twenty years of age;

2. Be of good moral character;

3. Have a diploma or certificate showing the holder to have studied architecture or the branch of engineering in which examination is desired in a university, academy, college, school or institute duly constituted and recognized as such by the Government or the State in which established; or

4. Have practised one of the professions above named for a period of not less than five years.

SECTION 11. The Board concerned shall issue licenses without prior examination to persons who, on the date of the approval of this Act:

1. Have passed the civil-service examination for engineer or architect;

2. Have the first three qualifications specified in the last preceding section; and cSaATC

3. Have previously exercised any of the professions mentioned in this Act for a period of not less than five years and have during such time had a good record.

Licenses shall also be issued to persons having passed the examinations held in accordance with sections eight and nine of this Act.

SECTION 12. It shall be unlawful for any person to advertise as engineer or architect without having the proper license as provided in this Act. Any violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand pesos or subsidiary imprisonment in case of non-payment: Provided, however, That all persons who have prior to the approval of this Act been engaged in the making of plans and direction of work without having an academic title as engineer or architect, may continue to do so as maestros de obras, but without signing such plans or advertising as engineers or architects: Provided, further, That none of the provisions of this Act shall be construed to prevent any person from making constructions or buildings of any kind.

SECTION 13. The sum of two thousand pesos is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the expenses of the Boards of Examiners of Engineers and Architects for the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one.

SECTION 14. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

SECTION 15. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, February 23, 1921. cHDAIS