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Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
REPUBLIC ACT NO.
8559
AN ACT
REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
IN THE PHILIPPINES
ARTICLE I
TITLE AND STATEMENT OF POLICY
SECTION 1. Title. — This Act shall be known as the "Philippine
Agricultural Engineering Act of
1998."
SECTION 2.
Statement of policy. — It is hereby declared a policy of
the State to promote and
upgrade the practice of agricultural engineering profession in the
Philippines by instituting
measures that will result in relevant agricultural engineering
education and better career
prospects for professional agricultural engineers.
Likewise, the State hereby guarantees the delivery of basic and
technical services to accelerate
agricultural modernization through adequate and well trained
professional agricultural engineers
throughout the country.
ARTICLE II
DEFINITION OF TERMS
SECTION 3.
Definition of terms. — As used in this Act, the following
terms shall mean:
(a) Practice of agricultural engineering — shall refer to the
profession requiring the application of
the fundamental and known principles of engineering to the peculiar
condition and requirements
of agriculture as an industry and as a field of science, and shall
include, but not limited to, the
following:
(1) Consultation, valuation, investigation and management services
on agricultural
engineering;
(2) Management or supervision and the preparation of engineering
designs, plans,
specifications, project studies and estimates for agricultural,
aquaculture and fishery, and
forest product machinery, agricultural buildings and structures,
farm electrification and
energy systems, agricultural processing equipment, irrigation and
soils conservation
systems and facilities, agricultural waste utilization systems and
facilities;
(3) Conducting research and development, training and extension
work, and consultancy
services on agricultural engineering facilities/services, system and
technologies;
(4) Testing, evaluation and inspection of agricultural, fishery and
forest product
machinery and other related agricultural engineering facilities and
equipment;
(5) Management, manufacturing and/or marketing of agricultural
machinery and other
related agricultural engineering facilities and equipment;
(6) Teaching, agricultural engineering subjects in institution of
learning in the Philippines;
(7) Employment with the government provided such item or position
requires the
knowledge and expertise of an agricultural engineer.
(b) Agricultural engineer — An agricultural engineer is a natural
person who has been issued a
certificate of registration by the Board of Agricultural Engineering
and has taken the oath of
profession of agricultural engineers.
ARTICLE III
BOARD OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
SECTION 4. Creation and composition of the board. — There is hereby
created a Board of
Agricultural Engineering, hereinafter called the Board, to be
composed of a chairman and two (2)
members to be appointed by the President of the Philippines from a
list of three (3)
recommendees for each position, chosen and ranked in the order of
preference and submitted by
the duly accredited association of agricultural engineers in the
Philippines.
The Board shall be organized not later than six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act.
SECTION 5.
Qualifications of members of the board. — A member of the
Board shall, at the time
of their appointment, possess the following qualifications:
(a) Must be a natural-born citizen and resident of the Philippines;
(b) Must be at least thirty-five (35) years of age;
(c) Must be a holder of Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural
Engineering or its equivalent,
conferred by a school, academy, college or university in the
Philippines or abroad that is
accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED);
(d) A registered agricultural engineer with a valid professional
license and an active
practitioner for not less than ten (10) years prior to his
appointment;
(e) Must not, for a period of three (3) consecutive years prior to
the appointment, be a
member of the faculty of, directly or indirectly, in any school,
academy, institute, college
or university where a regular course in agricultural engineering is
being taught, nor have
any pecuniary interest in or administrative supervision over any
such institutions of
learning;
(f) Must not, for a period of three (3) consecutive years prior to
the appointment, be
connected with a review center or any group or association where
review classes or
lectures in preparation for the licensure examination are offered or
conducted at the time
of appointment; and
(g) Has never been convicted of any offense involving moral
turpitude.
SECTION 6.
Term of office. — The members of the Board shall hold
office for a term of three (3)
years and until their successors shall have been appointed and
qualified. Of the members first
appointed under this Act, one (1) member shall be appointed and hold
office for three (3) years;
one (1) member for two (2) years; and one (1) member for one (1)
year.
The chairman or a member of the Board may be reappointed for another
term but in no case shall
he shall serve continuously for more than six (6) years. Each member
of the Board shall qualify
by taking the proper oath of office prior to entering upon the
performance of duty.
SECTION 7.
Compensation and allowances of the board. — The chairman
and members of the
Board shall receive compensation and allowances comparable to the
compensation and
allowances being received by the chairmen and members of existing
regulatory boards with the Professional Regulation Commission, hereinafter referred to as the
Commission as provided for
in the General Appropriations Act.
SECTION 8.
Vacancy and removal of board members. — Any vacancy
occurring in the Board
within the term of a member shall be filled for the unexpired
portion of the term only.
The President may remove any member of the Board on the following
grounds:
(a) Neglect of duty;
(b) Violation or tolerance of the violation of this Act or the Code
of Ethics for agricultural
engineering;
(c) Final judgment of crimes involving moral turpitude.
The member concerned shall be given due notice and hearing where his
right to be heard and to
defend himself, assisted by counsel, shall be respected in the
proper administrative investigation.
SECTION 9.
Powers and duties of the Board. — The Board shall
exercise the following specific
powers, functions and duties:
(a) To promulgate and adopt the rules and regulations necessary for
carrying out the
provisions of this Act;
(b) To supervise the registration, licensure and practice of
professional agricultural
engineers in the Philippines;
(c) To administer oaths of successful examinees entering the
practice of agricultural
engineering;
(d) To issue the certificate of registration to successful
examinees;
(e) To issue, suspend or revoke the license for the practice of
agricultural engineering
profession;
(f) To adopt an official seal of the Board;
(g) To look into the conditions affecting the practice of the
agricultural engineering
profession and whenever necessary, adopt such measures as may be
deemed proper for
the enhancement and maintenance of high professional and ethical
standards of the
profession;
(h) To prescribe and/or adopt a Code of Ethical and Professional
Standards for the
practice of agricultural engineering profession.
(i) To hear and try administrative cases involving violations of
this Act, its implementing
rules and regulations, the Code of Ethics for Professional
Agricultural Engineers and for
this purpose, to issue subpoena and subpoena duces tecum to secure
the appearance of
witnesses and the production of documents in connection therewith;
(j) Prescribe guidelines in the Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
program in
coordination with the accredited association for professional
agricultural engineers;
(k) To insure, in coordination with the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED), that all
educational institutions offering agriculture engineering education
comply with the
policies, standards and requirements of the course prescribed by
CHED in the areas of
curriculum, faculty, library and facilities;
(l) To discharge such other duties and functions as may be deemed
necessary for the
enhancement of the agricultural engineering profession and the
upgrading, development
and growth of agricultural engineering education in the Philippines;
(m) To prepare, adopt, issue or amend the syllabi of the subjects
for examinations;
(n) To approve, issue, limit or revoke temporary license to practice
agricultural
engineering.
All policies, resolutions, rules and regulations of the Board shall
be subject to the review and
approval of the Commission.
SECTION 10. Supervision of the Board; custodian of its records,
secretariat and support services. The Board shall be under the administrative supervision and of the
Commission. All records of
the Board, including applications for examination, examination
papers and results, minutes of
deliberation, administrative cases and other investigations
involving agricultural engineers shall
be kept by the Commission.
The Commission shall designate the Secretary of the Board and shall
provide the secretariat and
other support services to implement the provisions of this Act.
SECTION 11.
Annual report. — The Board shall, at the close of each
calendar year, submit an
annual report to the President through the Professional Regulatory
Commission giving a detailed
account of its proceedings and accomplishments during the year and
making recommendations
for the adoption of measures that will upgrade and improve the
conditions affecting the practice of
agricultural engineering in the Philippines.
ARTICLE IV
EXAMINATION , REGISTRATION AND LICENSE
SECTION 12. Examination required. — All applicants for registration
for the practice of
agricultural engineering shall be required to undergo and pass a
written technical examination as
provided for in this Act.
SECTION 13.
Qualification of an applicant for examinations. — Every
applicant for the
examination for agricultural engineers shall establish the
following:
(a) Be a citizen of the Philippines;
(b) Be a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering
or its equivalent in a
school, academy, institute, college or university duly recognized by
the CHED.
SECTION 14.
Fraudulent application. — The Board may suspend or
revoke any certificate of
registration obtained through misrepresentation made in the
application for examination.
SECTION 15. Scope of examination. — The examination for agricultural
engineering shall
basically cover the following subjects:
(1) Agricultural mechanization, power, machinery and equipment;
(2) Soil and water conservation, irrigation and drainage; and
(3) Rural electrification, agricultural processing and agricultural
structures.
The said subjects and their syllabi may be amended by the Board so
as to conform to
technological changes brought about by continuing trends in the
profession.
SECTION 16.
Rating in the Board Examinations. — To be qualified as
having passed the Board
examination for agricultural engineers, a candidate must obtain a
weighted general average of
seventy percent (70%), with no grades lower than fifty-five percent
(55%) in any given subject.
However, an examinee who obtains a weighted general average rating
of seventy percent (70%)
or higher but obtains a rating below fifty-five percent (55%) in any
given subject must take the
examination in the subject or subjects where he obtained a grade
below fifty-five percent (55%).
SECTION 17.
Report of ratings. — The Board shall submit to the
Commission the ratings
obtained by each candidate within twenty (20) days after the
examination, unless extended for
just cause. Upon the release of the results of the examination, the
Board shall send by mail the
rating received by each examinee at his given address using the
mailing envelope submitted
during the examination.
SECTION 18.
Re-examination. — An applicant who fails to pass the
examination for the third
time shall be allowed to take another examination only after the
lapse of one (1) year.
SECTION 19.
Oath. — All successful candidates in the examination
shall be required to take their
oath before the Board or any government official authorized to
administer oaths, prior to entering
upon the practice of the agricultural engineering profession.
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