As always, I am an advocate for the upliftment of Electrical Engineering Practice in the Philippines. With my vast overseas experience in the oil & gas industry which spans from the Middle East to Asia and Australia, I could clearly see the difference between practicing locally and overseas. This makes me feel guilty about what is happening in the Electrical Engineering profession in the Philippines.
In this article, I discussed the legality of a PEE signing technical documents and drawings prepared by others not under his direct supervision. This is a practice that (IMHO) has been generally accepted, thus despite being illegal as per RA 7920, nobody really cares. Does compliance with Statutory Laws not being observed anymore? If an incident of fire occurs, authorities are very quick to say that the cause of the fire was faulty electrical wiring.
Another provision of RA 7920 that I want to point out is Section 2a - Practice of electrical engineering, in particular, Sec 2a.1 and Sec 2a.5 to quote
(a) "Practice of electrical engineering" a person is deemed to be in the practice of electrical engineering when he renders or offers to render professional electrical engineering service in the form of:
(1) Consultation, investigation, valuation and management of services requiring electrical engineering knowledge;
(5) Supervision of the manufacture and repair of electrical equipment including switchboards, transformers, generators, motors, apparatus and others;
Based on the above provisions, will a person who manages a company that provides services as per Sec 2a.1 and manufacture electrical equipment as per Sec 2a.5 who is not a registered electrical engineering practitioner violates RA 7920? Are there any exemptions to this? As per Sec 14 - Exemption from Examination and Registration, there are no exemptions listed for the above practice.
RA 7920 Section 32 states the prohibitions to quote
Sec. 32. Prohibition in the Practice of Electrical Engineering. - No person shall:
(a) Practice or offer to practice electrical engineering in the Philippines without having previously obtained a certificate of registration and a professional license from the Board of Electrical Engineering except as provided for in Section 14 hereof;
If a person violates these provisions, who has the power to police them? In Queensland, a flood engineer is facing criminal charges, filed by the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland, for not being registered during his tour of duty. The Board of Professional Engineers found the flood engineer guilty and was fined. (IMHO) I do not believe that this will ever happen in the Philippines.
How could we uplift the Electrical Engineering profession in the Philippines if nobody cares even if non-registered persons are practicing electrical engineering in the Philippines?