Rules and Regulations Governing the Examination, Registration, Licensure and Practice of Environmental Planning (P.D. No. 1308)

February 14, 1994

PROFESSIONAL REGULATORY BOARD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING RESOLUTION NO. 01-94

RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE EXAMINATION, REGISTRATION, LICENSURE AND THE PRACTICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

Pursuant to Section 8, paragraph (1) of Presidential Decree Number 1308, otherwise known as the "Law Regulating the Environmental Planning Profession in the Philippines", the Board hereby prescribes and promulgates following Rules and Regulations to carry out the provisions of the Decree:

RULE I

Definition of Terms

SECTION 1. Definition of Terms. —

a. Commission shall refer to the Professional Regulation Commission;

b. Board shall refer to the Board of Environmental Planning;

c. Environmental Planning refers to those activities concerned with the planning, development and management of land, as well as the preservation, conservation and rehabilitation of the human environment; and cIADaC

d. Environmental Planner refers to a person engaged in the practice of environmental planning and duly registered with the Board of Environmental Planning with valid Certificate of Registration and valid Professional License.

RULE II

Scope of Practice

SECTION 2. Scope of Practice. — The practice of Environmental Planning shall include professional services in the form of technical consultation, plan preparation, and/or implementation involving the following:

a. Development of community, town, city or region;

b. Development of a site for a particular need such as housing, centers for activities concerned with research, education, culture, recreation, or government, industrial estates, agriculture, and water resources, including a spatial arrangement of buildings, utilities and communication routes;

c. Land use and zoning plans for the management and development, preservation, conservation, rehabilitation and control of the environment; and

d. Pre-investment; pre-feasibility studies.

RULE III

Duties and Powers of the Board

SECTION 3. Enforcement and Execution. — The Board in the enforcement and administration of Presidential Decree 1308: the "Law Regulating the Practice of Environmental Planning Profession" and in the execution and performance of its powers, duties, functions and responsibilities set forth therein shall rely or seek the supervision, assistance, support and advice of the Professional Relation Commission through the latter's offices, divisions, sections and units. ASHaTc

SECTION 4. Promulgation of Decisions, Rules, etc. — To promulgate a decision, resolution or order, in an administrative case, or a policy, rule and/or regulation, measure, directive, order, circular, or other resolution for the implementation of P.D. 1308, the Board shall meet en banc and vote personally. Both a quorum and a majority vote are pre-requisites for the validity of any of the foregoing actions. A quorum or majority vote shall consist of two or the total membership or composition of the Board.

An official action of the Board other than decision, resolution or order issued in an administrative case shall be valid, and enforceable, and effective only after it shall have been approved by the Commission and published in the Official Gazette or newspaper of general circulation. Publication of a Board's decision or order which is internal, administrative and not affecting the public, and nor penal or disciplinary in nature, shall not be required.

SECTION 5. Monthly Regular and Special Meeting. — The Board shall hold a regular meeting at least once a month within the Commission's premises on a date and time fixed by the Board. A special meeting may be called to deliberate on or attend to important and urgent business. TcHCIS

The meeting shall be deemed official only if it is attended to, or the proceedings thereof are taken by the Secretary of the Professional Regulatory Boards. Any of the Board shall designate at least one member to be at the Commission's premises during the week to attend to matters that any of the offices, divisions, sections or units of the Commission may refer thereto for appropriate action.

SECTION 6. Official Business With the Commission. — For any dealing, transaction, or business with the Commissioner, the Chairman shall be the spokesman, representative or liaison of the Board. He may authorize or designate any of the members or the Secretary of the Professional Regulatory Boards in case of his absence or indisposition.

SECTION 7. Assignment of Duties. — The Chairman shall be responsible for the assignment of duties and responsibilities to the members and for the supervision and management of their work.

SECTION 8. Opinion On and Interpretation of P.D. 1308 and the Board's Rules and Policies. — The Board in the discharge of the quasi-legislative (rule-making) power may issue an opinion on, construction, or interpretation of any provision of P.D. 1308, of Rules and Regulations, Code of Ethics, policies, issuance, etc. The issuance of the herein Board's official action shall be released through the Chairman, or a Board Member or the Secretary of the Professional Regulatory Boards as signatory if authorized by the Chairman. SaHTCE

SECTION 9. Action on Communication. — Queries or communications which do not require collective official action or reply by the Board or which are ministerially actionable may be answered and signed by the Chairman or a Board Member or the Secretary of the Professional Regulatory Board if authorized by the Chairman.

RULE IV

Conduct of Examination

SECTION 10. Place and Date of Examination. — The licensure examination shall be given once a year in Metro Manila. The Board shall recommend to the Commission for approval the schedule and venue of the licensure examination for Environmental Planners. However, extension of examination in another venue may be proposed by the Board to the Commission for approval after compliance with the requirements imposed by the Commission.

SECTION 11. Subjects and Percentage Weights. — The grouped or classified subjects in the licensure examination for environmental planners shall be the following with their corresponding percentage weights:

a.	Physical Planning, etc.	25%
b.	Social Planning, etc.	20%
c.	Economic Planning, etc.	20%
d.	Planning Law and Administration, etc.	20%
e.	Special Planning Studies, etc.	15%

Each subject, or group of subjects, shall have a syllabus, containing the concepts and topics thereof, that serves as the basis for the framing of questions. The examination shall be fully computerized; that is, questions prepared, or adopted, by a Board Member shall be inputted into the question bank and extracted therefrom through the randomization into sets; and the correction of the test papers shall be, by computer for the 70% objective type (multiple choice) and by manual for the 30% for subjective-or problem-solving type. caEIDA

SECTION 12. Program of Examination. — The Board shall issue a program for every scheduled examination indicating therein the subjects with their dates, time and percentage weights, the instructions, and the names and signatures of the Chairman of the Board and the Secretary of the Regulatory Boards, twenty (20) days prior to the first day of the examination.

SECTION 13. The Publication of the Examination. — The dates and the venue or names of the licensure examination shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation and/or disseminated through schools, colleges and universities offering the courses of environmental planning or its equivalent at least one (1) month prior to the first day of the examination.

SECTION 14. Qualifications for Examination. — An applicant for the environmental planning examination shall have the following qualifications:

a. A citizen of the Philippines;

b. At least twenty-one (21) years of age; and

c. A holder of any of the following;

1. Masteral degree in environmental planning, city and regional planning, or town and country planning, or its equivalent acceptable to the Board;

2. Bachelor's degree in environmental planning, city and regional planning, or town or country planning, or its equivalent, and with two (2) years of environmental planning experience certified by a registered Environmental Planner; aSIDCT

3. Masteral degree in either architecture, civil engineering, economics, public administration or sociology, and with one (1) year of environmental planning experience certified by a registered Environmental Planner; or

4. Bachelor's degree in either architecture, civil engineering, economics, public administration, or sociology, and with two (2) years of environmental planning experience certified by a registered Environmental Planner;

SECTION 15. Filing of Application for Examination. — An applicant for examination shall file his/her application in a form prescribed by the Commission at least ten (10) days prior to the examination together with hereunder documents, to wit;

a. Proof of Philippine citizenship, e.g. Certificate of Naturalization, voter's affidavit or voter's ID cards;

b. Certificate of Live Birth and/or Marriage Contract (if applicant is married female);

c. Transcript of Records with the name of the degree or course, the date of graduation and S.O. No. unless exempt therefrom due to accreditation of a course by the DECS or to being a state school/college graduate and certification of environmental planning experience issued by a registered Environmental Planner; and

d. Certification of his/her good moral character or any other proof that he/she possesses such character.

Approval or denial of application shall require action of two (2) Board Members. No application shall be approved unless all the qualifications shall have been substantially established by the applicant with his/her proofs or documents above mentioned.

SECTION 16. Rating in the Examination. — To pass the examination an examinee must obtain a weighted average of at least 70% with no grade 50% in any subject. An examinee who gets a weighted average of 70% or more but with a grade of below 50% in any subject shall be considered to have failed the examination and shall be allowed to retake only the said subject/s for not more than two (2) times until he/she shall have obtained 70% therein. If, after the second reexamination in the same subject/s, he/she should still fail therein, he/she shall be required to retake all the subjects in the examination. Once he/she obtains 70% or more in the repeated subject/s, his or her conditioned weighted average rating of 70% or more shall be considered a passing weighted average rating. aIcDCT

 

RULE V

Registration Without Examination

SECTION 17. Filing of Application Without Examination. — An applicant for registration without examination shall file his/her application in a form prescribed by the Commission at anytime within one (1) year period for registration from the constitution of the Board on June 25, 1993 together with the hereunder documents, to wit:

a. Proof of Philippine citizenship, e.g. Certificate of Naturalization, voter's affidavit or voter's ID Cards;

b. Certificate of Live Birth and/or Marriage Contract (if applicant is married female);

c. Transcript of Records with the name of the degree/course, date of graduation and S.O. No. unless exempt therefrom due to accreditation of course by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) or to being a state school/college graduate;

d. Certificate of Environmental Planning experience;

e. Civil Service Eligibility; and

f. He must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age.

SECTION 18. Qualifications for Registration Without Examination. — An applicant for registration without examination shall have any of the following academic and/or training backgrounds of experiences:

a. Masteral degree in environmental planning, city and regional planning, or town and country planning or its equivalent from a school recognized by the government, plus one (1) year of environmental planning experience; cTACIa

b. Masteral degree in a field of discipline related to planning, such as architecture, civil engineering, geography, economics, public administration, or sociology, plus two (2) years of environmental planning experience;

c. Masteral degree in a field of discipline related to planning, other than those listed in paragraph (b) above, plus two (2) years of environmental planning experience, and either of the following additional qualifications; EcIDaA

1. Completion of at least eighteen (18) units of graduate course in environmental planning; or

2. Completion of a training program or program the total number of hours of which is equivalent to the number of graduate course work in environmental planning.

d. Bachelor's degree in environmental planning, city and regional planning, or town and country planning from a school or institution recognized by the government, plus three (3) years of environmental planning experience acceptable by the Board;

e. Bachelor's degree in a field of discipline related to planning such as architecture, civil engineering, geography, economics, public administration, or sociology, plus four (4) years of environmental planning experience acceptable by the Board;

f. Bachelor's degree in a field of discipline related to planning, other than those listed in paragraph (4) above, plus eighteen (18) graduate units in planning and three (3) years of environmental planning experience acceptable by the Board; or

g. Civil service eligibility in planning or city planning, plus five (5) years of environmental planning experience.

RULE VI

Issuance of Certificate of Registration and Professional License

SECTION 19. Registration and Issuance of Certificate of Registration and Professional License. — Upon compliance with all the legal requirements for registration with or without examination, a registrant shall be allowed to enrol his/her name and other essential data in the Roster of Environmental Planners, and, accordingly, shall be issued with the Certificate of Registration and Professional License. HCSDca

SECTION 20. Taking the Oath of Environmental Planners. — All applicants for registration with or without examination who are eligible for registration as Environmental Planners shall be allowed to take their oath as such only after they shall have registered.

SECTION 21. Renewal of Professional License. — The professional license shall be renewed after every three (3) years on the birthmonth of the registered Environmental Planner upon compliance with Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirement, unless exempted therefrom, and upon payment of the annual registration fees for three (3) years.

SECTION 22. Delisting. — An Environmental Planner who has been delinquent in the payment of his/her annual registration fees for five (5) continuous years since his/her last payment shall not be allowed to continue practicing his/her profession after his/her name shall have been delisted from the Roster of Environmental Planners. The said period may be interrupted upon surrender of a Certificate of Registration and/or Professional License to the Commission. SHTcDE

SECTION 23. Lifting of Deferment of Registration. — Should the disciplinary action imposed under Section 17, Art. III of Presidential Decree No. 1308 be not cancellation of examination papers and/or debarment from taking future examination. The respondent-examinee, who has passed the examination may be allowed by the Commission to register upon recommendation of the Board after the lapse of no less than one (1) year from the date of the decision.

SECTION 24. Re-issuance of Certificate of Registration. — A registered Environmental Planner whose Certificate of Registration has been revoked may, after the lapse of one (1) year from the surrender thereof, be re-issued with such certificate upon approval by the Commission, after he/she established to the Board that he/she is still fit to continue practicing his/her profession.

SECTION 25. Registration Number and Expiry Date of the Professional License. — A registered Environmental Planner shall indicate his/her Certificate of Registration with date of issuance and the expiry date of validity of his/her Professional License in the document he/she issues, signs and uses in the practice of his/her profession. EHSIcT

RULE VII

Miscellaneous Provisions

SECTION 26. Administrative Investigation. — The conduct and procedures of an investigation initiated by the Board against an examinee or a registered Environmental Planner shall be governed by the provisions set forth in Article IV, V, and VI of the "Rules and Regulations Governing the Regulations and Practice of Professionals" and/or any other rules that may be issued by the Commission, Board or the President of the Republic of the Philippines. The Rules of the Court shall be suppletory to the foregoing rules.

SECTION 27. Grounds for Disciplinary Action. — The Board shall invoke the hereunder causes in meting out a penalty of revocation of Certificate of Registration, suspension from the practice of profession or reprimand to the examinees or registered environmental planner-respondent.

1. The grounds set forth in Section 17, Article III of P.D. 1308;

2. Violation of any of the Rules and Regulations of the Board or any policy or administrative issuance;

3. Violation of any provisions of P.D. No. 1308;

4. Breach of the Code of Professional Ethics for Environmental Planners.

SECTION 28. Enforceability of the Board's Decision. — The decision of the Board imposing a disciplinary action against the respondent shall only become final and executory after the Commission shall have approved it.

SECTION 29. Applicability of the "Rules and Regulations Governing the Regulation and Practice of Professionals". — In the enforcement, implementation, and administration of the provisions of the Rules and Regulations Governing the Regulation and Practice of the Professionals shall be suppletorily applicable.

SECTION 30. Separability Clause. — If any provision of the herein Rules and Regulations is declared unconstitutional, unlawful or invalid, such declaration shall not be deemed to have invalidated the other provisions thereof.

SECTION 31. Effectivity. — The herein Rules and Regulations shall be, upon approval by the Commission, effective after fifteen (15) days following the publication thereof in the Official Gazette or any newspaper of general circulation, whichever is earlier.

DONE in the City of Manila, on 14th day of February, 1994.

(SGD.) SERAFIN G. AQUINO, JR.,Chairman

(SGD.) CESAR H. CONCIOMember

(SGD.) LUIS T. TUNGPALANMember

ATTESTED TO:

(SGD.) CARLOS G. ALMELORSecretaryRegulatory Boards

APPROVED:

(SGD.) HERMOGENES P. POBRECommissioner

(SGD.) MARIANO A. MENDIETAAssociate Commissioner

(SGD.) ARMANDO C. PASCUALAssociate Commissioner