Regulation of Geodetic Engineering Practice

Board of Examiners: creation, composition, powers

Section 3 creates a Board of Examiners for Geodetic Engineers composed of a Chairman and two Members.
Section 3 provides that the President appoints all Board Members with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Civil Service.
Section 3 requires that appointees be drawn from registered practicing geodetic engineers of recognized standing in the Philippines, certified by any officially recognized association of geodetic engineers.
Section 3 directs that the first Board members be appointed within two years from approval.
Section 3 provides a transitory rule: the present Board of Examiners for Surveyors continues to function in lieu of the new Board until the new Board’s members are appointed and qualified.

Board Members: qualifications and tenure

Section 5 requires each Board member to be a citizen and resident of the Philippines.
Section 5 requires each Board member to be at least thirty-one years of age and of good moral character.
Section 5 requires each Board member to be a registered geodetic engineer under this Act and in active practice of geodetic engineering or surveying for at least ten years (in or outside government service).
Section 5 prohibits conflicts with faculty employment: Board members must not be members of the faculty of any school where a regular course in geodetic engineering or surveying is taught, or if they were faculty, they must have stopped teaching for at least three consecutive years immediately before appointment.
Section 5 prohibits pecuniary interest: Board members must not be directly or indirectly pecuniarily interested in any such school.
Section 6 provides a three-year term for Board Members.
Section 6 provides a transitory term schedule for first appointees: Chairman—three years; one member—two years; one member—one year.
Section 6 provides that vacancies are filled only for the unexpired portion of the term.
Section 6 requires each Board member to qualify by taking the proper oath prior to assumption of office.

Governance: executive officer, records, compensation

Section 7 designates the Commissioner of Civil Service as the executive officer of the Board.
Section 7 requires the Commissioner of Civil Service to conduct examinations according to rules and regulations promulgated by him and approved by the President.
Section 7 provides that the Board’s Secretary appointed in accordance with section ten of Act Numbered Four Thousand Seven, as amended by Republic Act Numbered Five Hundred and Forty-six shall also be the Secretary of the Board.
Section 7 requires the Commissioner of Civil Service to keep all Board records, including examination papers, minutes of deliberations, and records of administrative proceedings and investigations.
Section 8 sets compensation: each Board member receives ten pesos for each applicant examined and ten pesos for each certificate of registration granted without prior examination.

Rules, ethics, reporting, and removal

Section 10 authorizes the Board to promulgate rules, regulations, and a code of ethics to carry out the Act, subject to approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service and the President of the Philippines.
Section 10 requires publication of approved rules, regulations, or the code of ethics in the Official Gazette.
Section 10 allows penal provisions in the Board’s rules and/or regulations, with violations punishable by a fine of not more than two hundred pesos, imprisonment of not more than six months, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Section 11 requires the Board to submit an annual report to the President after each fiscal year, detailing Board proceedings and including recommendations deemed proper.
Section 9 empowers the President, upon recommendation of the Commissioner of Civil Service, to suspend or remove a Board member for continued neglect of duty, incompetence, commission or tolerance of irregularities in examination, malpractice, or unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.
Section 9 requires notice and hearing: the Board member must be given an opportunity to be heard and/or defend himself in a proper administrative investigation.

Practice prohibition and definition of practice

Section 12 prohibits any person from practicing or offering to practice geodetic engineering in the Philippines as defined in the Act, or from using the title “Geodetic Engineer” (or any word, letter, figure, or sign conveying that impression) without holding a valid certificate of registration issued by the Board.
Section 12 prohibits advertising or indicating, in any manner, qualification to perform geodetic engineering work without a valid certificate.
Section 13 defines the practice of geodetic engineering to include activities performed by any person except geodetic engineering or surveying students and graduates performing under supervision of a registered geodetic engineer-instructor for training.
Section 13 includes as practice: performing professional services as a geodetic engineer with or without fee, salary, or other reward or compensation.
Section 13 includes as practice: surveying and preparing plan of land for registration in the registry of property without a registered geodetic engineer’s supervision.
Section 13 includes as practice: undertaking any work using a transit, theodolite, and/or tape for purposes of property registration.
Section 13 includes as practice: surveying and preparing topographic, hydrographic and economic maps for social, economic and engineering studies or planning.
Section 13 includes as practice: being engaged as instructor or professor in a technical subject in any geodetic engineering course in any school or college.
Section 13 excludes military or nautical schools from the instructor/professor coverage.

Examination system: who qualifies, how exams run

Section 14 requires all applicants for registration to undergo a technical examination unless otherwise permitted under the Act.
Section 15 requires applicants, at the time of filing, to establish the following to the Board’s satisfaction:
- age of at least twenty-one years;
- Philippine citizenship, or qualification for foreigners under section thirty-one;
- good health and good moral character; and
- possession of a Bachelor of Science in Geodetic Engineering from a Government-recognized school, institute, college or university.
Section 15 specifies that the degree standard course includes Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Laws on Natural Resources, Land Registration and Property, and the Land Reform Code, Plane Surveying (including isolated, mineral and cadastral land surveys), Railroad Curves and Earthworks, Hydrographic and Topographic Surveying, Geodesy (including Geodetic Surveying, Geodetic Astronomy, Geodetic Triangulation, Geodetic Levelling, Gravity Measurements, and Least Squares), Photogrammetry and Cartography.
Section 15 creates a qualification pathway within three years after approval: holders of a certificate of Associate in Surveying with at least one year field experience under a licensed geodetic engineer may take the geodetic engineering examination.
Section 16 provides that the Board gives examinations twice a year in the City of Manila or at another place the Board deems necessary and expedient, subject to approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service and the President.
Section 17 provides that the examination consists of written tests covering mathematics, theory and practical problems in surveying (including isolated, cadastral and mineral land surveys), cartography, laws on property and registration of title, geodesy, and other subjects the Board prescribes for the standard curriculum as approved by the Department of Education.
Section 18 sets passing requirements: an average rating of seventy per cent and no subject with a rating below fifty per cent.
Section 18 provides a remedial pathway: if an applicant fails the passing average but obtains at least seventy percent in each of at least one-half (1/2) of the total subjects, the applicant may take within two years from the date of the first examination another examination on the subjects where the grade was below seventy percent.
Section 18 provides that if the applicant still fails in the repeated subjects on the second examination, the applicant must take all subjects in the next examination.

Results, certificates, oath, and professional seal

Section 19 requires the Board to report examination results within one hundred and twenty days after the examination to the Commissioner of Civil Service, who must recommend submission of results to the President for approval.
Section 20 provides that a certificate of registration as geodetic engineer is issued to any applicant who passes the examination after approval of ratings by the President and after payment of required fees.
Section 20 provides an amnesty-like early issuance rule: upon payment of required fees, the Board may issue within a period not exceeding two years from approval of the Act a certificate without examination to applicants who, as of approval of the Act, fall into any of the following categories:
- holders of a registration certificate as private, or mineral, or cadastral land surveyor under Act Numbered Thirty-six Hundred and Twenty-Six as Amended;
- graduates of a recognized surveying course who passed the Civil Service examination as assistant surveyor, or surveyor, or assistant mineral land surveyor, or mineral land surveyor, or senior cartographer, or supervising computer, and have practiced field surveying for at least twenty years in and/or out of government service; or
- commissioned line officers of the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey or retired officers of the Bureau with at least five (5) years continuous active service as a commissioned line officer at the time of retirement.
Section 20 requires each certificate to show the registrant’s full name with a serial number.
Section 20 requires certificates to be signed by Board members, attested to by the Secretary, and authenticated by the official seal of the Board.
Section 20 provides evidentiary effect: the certificate is evidence that the named person is entitled to the rights and privileges of a registered geodetic engineer while the certificate remains in force and unrevoked.
Section 21 requires all registrants to take a professional oath before the Board or before any person authorized to administer oaths before commencing practice.
Section 22 requires each registered geodetic engineer to obtain a seal designed as authorized and prescribed by the Board.
Section 22 requires plans and technical descriptions prepared by or under a registered geodetic engineer’s direct supervision to be stamped with the authorized seal.
Section 22 imposes responsibility: a geodetic engineer is fully responsible for plans, technical descriptions, and other documents bearing the engineer’s seal or authorization signature.
Section 22 directs the Board to make rules on use of authorized signatures and seals on plans, maps, technical and lot descriptions, reports, other survey returns, and documents prepared and registered by geodetic engineers.

Fees, refusal cases, suspension/revocation

Section 23 sets examination and registration fees:
- examination fee: forty-five pesos;
- registration fee: ten pesos;
- registration without prior examination fee: fifty-five pesos.
Section 23 sets a duplicate certificate fee of ten pesos.
Section 23 requires every practicing geodetic engineer to pay an annual registration fee of two pesos, payable on or before April 30 of every ensuing year.
Section 23 requires payment of fees to the disbursing officer of the Board and directs that authorized expenses of the Board be paid from receipts, including Board members’ compensation.
Section 24 requires the Board to refuse to issue a certificate of registration to any person convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude; to any person of immoral or dishonorable conduct; and to any person of unsound mind.
Section 24 requires written notice: the Board must furnish the affected party a written statement of the reason(s), to be incorporated in Board records.
Section 25 empowers the Board to revoke or suspend a certificate for causes mentioned in Section 24 or for unprofessional or unethical conduct, malpractice, incompetence, or where fraud, deceit, or false statement was used to obtain the certificate.

Appeals, reinstatement, and replacements

Section 26 provides that a Board decision becomes final after thirty days from promulgation unless, within that period, an interested party perfects an appeal by filing a notice of appeal with the Office of the Commissioner of Civil Service.
Section 26 provides that the Commissioner of Civil Service decision is appealable within thirty days from receipt of a copy to the Office of the President of the Philippines, whose decision is final.
Section 27 authorizes reinstatement or replacement: the Board may reinstate a suspended certificate or issue another certificate in lieu of one previously revoked upon application and for reasons of equity and justice.
Section 27 requires reinstatement/replacement under Section 27 to be done only at least two years after suspension or revocation and upon payment of required fees.
Section 27 allows replacement for lost, destroyed, or mutilated certificates subject to Board rules and upon payment of the required fee.

Corporate practice restrictions and liability

Section 28 provides that geodetic engineering is a professional service where admission is determined on the basis of individual and personal qualifications.
Section 28 prohibits registering or licensing any firm, company, partnership, association, or corporation for the practice of geodetic engineering.
Section 28 provides that this prohibition does not prevent combinations of geodetic engineers from using the term “Geodetic Engineer.”
Section 28 requires, for partnerships, firms, or associations, that the majority of members are properly registered and licensed geodetic engineers.
Section 28 provides that members of the partnership, firm, or association are responsible for their own individual acts.

Criminal penalties for violations

Section 29 provides that the following are punished by a fine of not less than two hundred pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, or imprisonment of not less than six months nor more than six years, or both, at the discretion of the court:
- any person not exempt from registration who practices geodetic engineering in the Philippines without holding a valid certificate of registration issued under the Act;
- any person who gives any false or fraudulent statement to the Board to obtain a certificate;
- any person who presents or uses as his own a certificate issued to another person;
- any person who uses a revoked or suspended certificate of registration as geodetic engineer;
- any person who assumes, uses or advertises as geodetic engineer, or appends to his name letters or words conveying the impression of being a registered geodetic engineer when not duly registered with the Board;
- any geodetic engineer, or any person on the engineer’s behalf, who stamps or seals a document with the engineer’s seal after the certificate has expired or has been suspended or revoked;
- any geodetic engineer who signs the engineer’s name, affixes the seal, or uses any other method of signature on plans, technical descriptions, or other documents prepared by or under another geodetic engineer’s supervision, unless prepared in a manner clearly indicating the part or parts actually performed by the former geodetic engineer;
- any person, except the geodetic engineer in charge, who signs for any branch of purveying work or any function or surveying practice not actually performed by that person; and
- any person who violates any provision of the Act.

Foreign participation and reciprocity requirement

Section 31 provides that no foreigner may be admitted to examination or registration as geodetic engineer unless the foreigner proves in the manner provided for by the Rules of Court that the foreigner’s country admits Filipino citizens to the practice of geodetic engineering after examination on terms of strict and absolute equality.
Section 31 requires proof that the reciprocity includes unconditional recognition of prerequisite degrees issued by institutions of learning duly recognized by the Government of the Philippines.

Repeal, separability, and effectivity

Section 32 repeals or amends all laws, executive orders, rules, regulations, or parts thereof in conflict with the Act.
Section 33 provides separability: if any provision or portion is declared unconstitutional, the other provisions are not affected.
Section 34 states effectivity: the Act takes effect upon its approval.
The Act was approved June 19, 1965.