INTRODUCTION

CIVIL ENGINEERING LAW

HISTORY OF ENGINEERING IN THE PHILIPPINES

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL FAMOUS CIVIL ENGINEERS

Civil Engineering is a professional engineering discipline that concerns with designing,

constructing and maintaining structures such as buildings and infrastructures including a variety of works
such as residence, bridges, and roads (Zavala, G.R, 2014). As a discipline, civil engineering is the
application of physical and scientific principles that has made large contribution to the society, especially
in the field of mathematics and physics (Nick B., 2018). It is the second oldest engineering discipline,
next to military engineering. The word “civil” is added to avoid confusion with the discipline of military
engineering, to emphasize that the purpose of this certain discipline is to build infrastructure in focus for
the use of the civilians.

In the Philippines, a law is established to regulate the civil engineering practice. The Civil
Engineering Law or Republic Act 544 which to regulate the practice of civil engineering in the Philippine,
approved on June 17, 1950, as amended by R.A 1582 that was approved in June 16, 1956. This law states
the definition of the work of a civil engineer. This also states the registration of licensed professional civil
engineers are those who passed the PRC exam in our country. There is also a list of requirements needed
to be considered as such. The law also dictates the proper process and rules to start construction of
public infrastructures, in align with governmental ordinances. The purpose of this law also covers the
limitations of companies and firms in accepting civil engineers. In totality, this law is purposed to
strengthen the civil engineering profession in abide to law. Also, it serves the purpose of maintaining and
developing the competency in the field.

The history of Filipino civil engineers in the Philippines started with the Maestro de Obras or
Master builders, they are not formally recognized as civil engineers because of the social prejudice but
they had skills to design and construct different infrastructures. Back then, Civil engineering schools are
not yet established in the country, only the Spaniards who studied in Europe was able to obtained Civil
Engineering degree. The Friars Civil engineers and Architect would be building and constructing public
establishment while the Filipino Builders were more focused in maintaining a repairing public
infrastructure such as government buildings and churches. In 1517, Fort Santiago was built. The fort has
a perimeter of 2,030 feet (620 m), and it is of a nearly triangular form. The fort is one of the most
important historical sites in Manila. A lot of injustices happened during the Spanish regime, Jose Rizal,
our national hero, was imprisoned in Fort of Santiago before his execution in 1896
Zavala, G.R.; Nebro, A.J.; Luna, F.; Coello, C.A.C. A survey of multi-objective metaheuristics applied to
structural optimization. Struct. Multidiscip. Optim. 2014, 49, 537–558.

Nick B. (2018, October 30). So what does a civil engineer do, exactly? The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/careers/what-does-civil-engineer-do