About

The Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers or PICE is a professional organization for civil engineers in the Philippines. It was formed by merging two separate organizations of civil engineers: one group working from government sector and the second group working in the private sector.

Brief history

In the late 1920s, group of civil engineers from the government sector formed the Philippine Society of Civil Engineers (PSCE) which was the first civil engineering organization in the Philippines with Engr. Marcial Kasilag as its first president.

In 1937, the Philippine Association of Civil Engineers (PACE) was formed. This time, it was a group of civil engineers in the private sector with Engr. Enrique Sto. Tomas Cortes as its first president.

The objectives of both organizations were similar with each other in which both of them wants to: "elevate the standards of the profession, encourage research and engineering knowledge and technology, foster fellowship among members, and promote interrelation with other technological and scientific societies".

The PACE being the most active than the PSCE led to the transfer of many PSCE members to PACE. In 1950, Republic Act No. 544 (also known as the "Civil Engineering Law") was passed through the efforts of PACE President Alberto Guevarra.

On February 1974, the first election of officers was held and Engr. Cesar Caliwara became its first president. In order to truly unite the civil engineers of the Philippines, provincial chapters were organized. In August 13, 1975, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) recognized the PICE as the only official organization of civil engineers in the Philippines.

In 1972, PACE President Engr. Cesar A. Caliwara, exerted a serious effort in merging the two organization. Leaders of PACE and PSCE negotiated, and talked about the choice of name. Some concerns were raised such as formal accounting and turnover of assets and liabilities, accreditation of bonafide members and election rules for the first officers which were sooner resolved. These gave birth to the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers Inc. and on December 11, 1973, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a registration certificate to the association.

On July 24, 2012, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III issued a declaration by virtue of Proclamation No. 439 signed by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. and has declared November 2012 as Civil Engineering Month to focus national attention on the importance of the civil engineering profession. PICE now has more than 71,900 registered civil engineer-members in 97 chapters and some 25,390 civil engineering student-members in 174 student chapters throughout the country.