Sanitary Engineering Practice Regulation Law

Board of Examiners creation and governance

Section 3 requires the creation of the Board of Examiners for Sanitary Engineers within thirty days from the effectivity of the Act, composed of a chairman and two members appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Civil Service from persons of recognized standing.
Section 3 requires Board appointees to be certified by their bona fide sanitary engineering associations as having practiced at least five years, and being academically and morally fully qualified.
Section 3 sets Board terms at three years after appointment (or until successors are appointed and qualified) and provides staggered initial terms for the first appointees: one member for one year, one for two years, and one for three years.
Section 3 requires each member to qualify by taking the proper oath of office before performing duties.
Section 3 authorizes removal by the President for neglect of duty, incompetence, malpractice, unprofessional, unethical, immoral, or dishonorable conduct, after the member is given an opportunity to defend himself in a proper administrative investigation.
Section 3 authorizes presidential suspension during the investigation and appointment of a temporary member in the interim.
Section 3 requires vacancies to be filled for the unexpired term.

Board powers, enforcement assistance, and subpoenas

Section 4 vests the Board with authority to administer oaths and to issue, suspend, and revoke certificates of registration for the practice of sanitary engineering.
Section 4 authorizes the Board, subject to the President’s approval, to issue certificates of recognition to sanitary engineers already practicing prior to the Act’s effectivity for advanced studies, research, and/or highly specialized training in any branch of sanitary engineering.
Section 4 authorizes the Board to investigate violations of the Act and its regulations that come to its knowledge.
Section 4 authorizes the Board to issue subpoena duces tecum to compel appearance of witnesses in connection with charges presented to the Board.
Section 4 requires the Board to inspect educational institutions offering sanitary engineering courses at least once a year.
Section 4 designates the Secretary of Health and/or duly authorized representatives in provinces and chartered cities as ex officio agents of the Board, requiring them to help enforce the Act.
Section 4 provides a court-enforcement mechanism: if a person refuses to obey a Board subpoena or refuses to testify or produce books/documents, the Board may petition the Court of First Instance to issue a court subpoena requiring appearance, testimony, and/or production of relevant items.
Section 4 provides that failure to obey the court subpoena or order may be proceeded against in the same manner as refusal to obey any other court subpoena or order.
Section 4 ties Board action to the approval framework required for particular powers (including suspension and revocation as addressed in Section 22).

Board membership qualifications, fees, and compensation

Section 5 requires each Board member, at the time of appointment, to be a citizen and resident of the Philippines, at least thirty years of age, and of good moral character.
Section 5 requires Board members to be graduates of sanitary engineering or registered civil engineers who have taken major subjects in sanitary engineering from a recognized and legally constituted school/institute/college/university, and/or registered civil engineers who have passed the Civil Service examination for Senior Sanitary Engineer.
Section 5 requires a Board member to be a registered sanitary engineer duly qualified to practice sanitary engineering in the Philippines, with at least five years of practice with a certificate as such prior to appointment.
Section 5 prohibits Board membership for faculty members of schools where sanitary engineering is taught or those with pecuniary interests in such institutions.
Section 5 bars former faculty members from becoming Board members unless they stopped teaching for at least three consecutive years prior to appointment.
Section 6 requires the Board to charge PHP 35 for each application for examination and PHP 10 for each certificate of registration.
Section 7 requires Board members to receive compensation of PHP 5 for each applicant examined; government sanitary engineer Board members receive this compensation in addition to their government salary.
Section 7 requires all authorized Board expenses to be paid by the Bureau of Civil Service and paid by the collecting and disbursing office of the Bureau out of appropriations for the purpose.
Section 8 designates the Commissioner of Civil Service as executive officer of the Board, conducting examinations and designating a subordinate Bureau officer to act as secretary.
Section 8 requires the Bureau of Civil Service to keep all Board records and minutes, including examination papers.
Section 9 requires an annual Board report to the President after each fiscal year close, with a detailed account of proceedings and recommendations.
Section 10 requires the Commissioner of Civil Service to prepare a roster in July of every year, starting one year after Act effectivity, showing names and place of business and permanent home addresses of all professional sanitary engineers, and requires mailing and furnishing copies to designated government offices and furnishing the roster to the public upon request.

Examination requirements and registration certificates

Section 11 requires all applicants for registration to pass a technical examination.
Section 12 requires examinations to be given in the City of Manila beginning the last Monday of January and August of each year, and to move to the next following days if those dates fall on official holidays.
Section 13 lists examination subjects to include:
- Mathematics (including algebra; plane and spherical trigonometry; analytics; descriptive and solid geometry; differential and integral calculus; rational and applied mechanics).
- Hydraulics.
- Topographic and hydrographic surveying.
- Design and construction of wooden, masonry, reinforced concrete, and steel structures as flumes, water towers, and drainage canals.
- Hydrology.
- Water and sewage analysis.
- Microbiology and bacteriology.
- Design and construction of sewers, storm drains, water purification plants, sewage treatment plants, and plumbing.
Section 13 grants exemption from specific subjects for duly registered civil engineers, covering:
- Mathematics (as specified in the Act’s Mathematics list),
- Hydraulics,
- Topographic and hydrographic surveying, and
- Design and construction of wooden, masonry, reinforced concrete, and steel structures as flumes, water towers, and drainage canals.
Section 14 requires the Board to report each candidate’s rating within one hundred twenty days after completion of the examination to the Commissioner of Civil Service, who submits ratings to the President.
Section 15 bars an applicant from taking another examination until at least one year has elapsed after the applicant’s last examination if the applicant fails the same grade for the third time.
Section 16 requires the President, upon Board recommendation and after the registration fee is paid as provided, to issue a certificate of registration to an applicant who has satisfactorily met the Act’s requirements, subject to Board opinion and President approval framework.
Section 16 requires each certificate of registration to show the full name of the registrant, have a serial number, and be signed by all Board members, the President, and the Commissioner of Civil Service, and be attested by the Board’s official seal.
Section 16 provides that issuance of a certificate by the Board is evidence that the person is entitled to the rights and privileges of a registered sanitary engineer while the certificate remains unrevoked and unsuspended, unless revoked or suspended.
Section 17 sets minimum qualifications for admission to the examination:
- At least twenty-one years of age,
- Citizen of the Philippines,
- Good reputation and moral character, and
- Graduate of a four-year course in sanitary engineering or BSCE having taken major subjects in sanitary engineering from a school/institute/college/university recognized by the Government or the State where established.
Section 18 requires all successful candidates to take a professional oath before the Board of Examiners for Sanitary Engineers or other government officials authorized to administer oaths, prior to entering practice.
Section 19 requires registered sanitary engineers to obtain a seal of design authorized and directed by the Board, with the certificate serial number included in the seal design.
Section 19 requires that plans and specifications prepared by, or under direct supervision of, a registered sanitary engineer must be stamped with the seal during the life of the registrant’s certificate.
Section 19 makes it unlawful to stamp or seal documents with the seal after the certificate has expired or been revoked, unless the certificate is renewed or reissued.
Section 20 exempts registration for:
- 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 sanitary engineering services for the United States and/or Philippines.
- Foreign sanitary engineers or experts called by the Philippine Government for consultation for specific sanitary engineering services defined under the Act, limited to such work and provided they do not engage in private practice at their own account as sanitary engineers.
Section 21 prohibits the Board from issuing a certificate to:
- Any person convicted of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude, or
- Any person guilty of immoral or dishonorable conduct, or
- Any person of unsound mind.
Section 21 requires a written statement of reasons for refusal, to be incorporated in the Board records.
Section 22 authorizes the Board, subject to the President’s approval, to suspend or revoke a certificate after due notice and hearing for causes mentioned in Section 21.
Section 23 allows the Board, after expiration of one year from revocation date and for reasons it deems sufficient, to entertain an application for a new certificate; the application follows the same form as for examination, and the Board may exempt the applicant from the required examination.
Section 24 provides transitory registration rules for within one year, or as soon as the Act takes effect, requiring only a certificate of registration for those who desire to practice:
- Graduates of sanitary engineering or civil engineers who took major subjects in sanitary engineering, with at least two years experience as sanitary engineers.
- Civil engineers in the employ of the Philippine Government or in private practice in the Philippines with at least five years experience in sanitary engineering services.
- Civil engineers with no less than ten years continuous practice as master plumbers prior to approval of the Act.
- Civil engineers who passed the Assistant Sanitary Engineer or Senior Sanitary Engineer Civil Service examinations and have been practicing sanitary engineering for at least two years prior to approval of the Act.

Who must register; practice prohibitions; professional titles

Section 26 requires a proper certificate of registration from the Board as a condition to practice or offer to practice sanitary engineering in the Philippines, unless exempted.
Section 27 makes it a misdemeanor to:
- Practice or offer to practice sanitary engineering without being registered under the Act.
- Present or attempt to use as one’s own the certificate of registration of a registered sanitary engineer.
- Give false or forged evidence to the Board.
- Impersonate any registrant sanitary engineer using a different name.
- Attempt to use a revoked or suspended certificate of registration.
- Use, in connection with one’s name or otherwise, or assume/use/advertise any title or description tending to convey the impression of being a sanitary engineer without holding a valid certificate of registration.
- Violate any provision of the Act.
Section 27 sets penalties for conviction as a fine of not less than PHP 500 nor more than PHP 2,000, or imprisonment of not less than six months nor more than one year, or both, in the court’s discretion.
Section 28 prohibits, unless exempted from registration under Section 20, any person from being in responsible charge of the preparation of plans, designs, investigations, valuations, technical reports, specifications, or estimates, or from being in performance of other sanitary engineering services for himself or others, unless holding a valid sanitary engineer certificate.
Section 28 also prohibits, unless exempted under Section 20, being in responsible charge of construction, erection, installation, alteration, or performance of sanitary engineering service connected with the manufacture, sale, supply, or distribution of sanitary engineering works/projects/plants for oneself or others unless holding a valid sanitary engineer certificate.
Section 29 prohibits any person or firm from ordering or causing construction, erection, installation, or alteration of sanitary engineering equipment, machinery, or process for any sanitary engineering work/project/plant with a cost exceeding PHP 5,000, unless:
- Designs, plans, layouts, and/or specifications have been prepared under responsible charge of, signed and sealed by a registered sanitary engineer; and
- Construction/erection/installation/alteration are executed under responsible charge and direct supervision of a registered sanitary engineer.
Section 30 allows firms, partnerships, corporations, or associations to engage in the practice of sanitary engineering in the Philippines only if practice is carried out under supervision of a sanitary engineer or sanitary engineers holding valid Board certificates.
Section 30 prohibits any firm, partnership, corporation, or association using the name of a person or persons as the firm name from advertising as sanitary engineers unless those persons are registered sanitary engineers.
Section 31 prohibits any unregistered person from collecting a fee for services rendered, except when collecting a fee as an employee representing a registered sanitary engineer.
Section 32 limits eligibility for examination by reciprocity: no person who is not a Philippine citizen at the time of application shall be allowed to take the examination unless proof is established in the manner provided by the Rules of Court that the foreign country admits Philippine citizens to the same profession without restriction or allows them to practice after examination on strict and absolute equality, including unconditional recognition of degrees.
Section 32 provides additional conditions for those not Philippine citizens after December 8, 1941, requiring uninterrupted active practice in the profession either in the Philippines or the state/country where they practiced for at least two years prior to July 4, 1946, and requiring that the foreign country allows Philippine citizens the same profession without restrictions or on strict and absolute equality.

Enforcement, authorized officers, and field limitations

Section 25 requires all duly constituted law officers of the national, provincial, city, and municipal governments, or any political subdivision thereof, to enforce the Act and prosecute violations.
Section 33 states that the Act does not prevent practice of any other legally recognized profession or trade.
Section 33 also states the Act does not diminish the fields of practice already embraced by civil engineers registered under Republic Act No. 544 or by duly licensed master plumbers under existing law.

Firms, professional fees, and actuarial administration

Section 31 forbids unregistered fee collection except as an employee collecting fees as a representative of a registered sanitary engineer.
Section 30 authorizes corporate and partnership practice only under certified sanitary engineer supervision.
Section 10 requires an annual roster and distribution to public authorities and the public upon request, supporting enforcement and verification of who is professionally registered.

Severability and effectivity

Section 34 provides separability: if any part or section is declared unconstitutional, the remaining provisions remain valid.
Section 35 provides that the Act takes effect upon approval.
The Act was approved June 18, 1955.