PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, PETITIONER, VS. PROSPERO SANIDAD, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF PUBLIC WORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS, MARCIANO S. ANG…

Commonwealth Act No. 294, approved on June 9, 1938, regulates the
practice of mechanical engineering in the Philippines and creates a
Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners to administer its provisions.
The Board is composed of three members appointed by the Secretary of
Public Works and Communications and for administrative purposes comes
under the supervisory authority of that officer by virtue of Section 79(c) of the Revised Administrative Code.

The Act provides that “no person shall practice or attempt to
practice mechanical engineering in the Philippines, without having
previously obtained a certificate of registration” (sec. 12), and that
this certificate is to be issued by the Secretary of Public Works and
Communications upon the recommendation of the Board (sec. 28). The Act
establishes hierarchy or grades in the profession and to that end
provides that the “Certificates of registration for the practice of
mechanical engineering shall be of four grades and in the order of rank
as follows: (1) professional mechanical engineer, (2) mechanical plant
engineer, (3) junior mechanical engineer, and (4) certified plant
mechanic.”

To obtain a certificate of registration the applicant must possess
the qualifications prescribed for the grade applied for and is
furthermore required to pass a technological examination. But by
sections 24 to 27 of the Act this examination is dispensed with in the
case of applicants with certain qualifications submitting proof of
practical experience of a character satisfactory to the Board. Those
sections read:

“Sec. 24. Registration as professional mechanical engineer without examination.—No
examination shall be required of any person who shall, with his
application for registration as professional mechanical engineer,
submitted to the Board within one year from the date this Act becomes
effective, present evidence or other proof satisfactory to the Board,
showing that, on”the date of the approval of this Act, he had a
specific record of four years or more of active practice in mechanical
engineering work of a character satisfactory to the Board and
indicating that the applicant is competent to render professional
mechanical engineering service and to be placed in responsible charge
of such work; and, any of the following qualifications:

“(a) Had passed a civil-service examination for senior mechanical engineer; or

“(b)
Was a mechanical engineer duly licensed by the Board of Examiners for
Mechanical Engineers under Act Numbered Two Thousand nine hundred
eighty-five of the Philippine Legislature of nineteen hundred
twenty-one, as amended.

“Sec. 25. Registration as mechanical plant engineer without examination.—No
examination shall be required of any person who shall, with his
application for registration as mechanical plant engineer, submitted to
the Board within one year from the date this Act becomes effective,
present evidence or sufficient proof satisfactory to the Board, showing
that, on the date of the approval of this Act, he had any of the
following qualifications:

“(a) Ten years or more of
active practice in mechanical engineering work of a character showing
that the application is competent to take charge of the construction,
erection, installation, alteration, operation, and management of
mechanical works, projects, or plants, and has the first three
qualifications specified under section seventeen of this Act; or

“(b)
Actual employment on the approval of this Act in a regularly organized
mechanical works, protect, or plant of more than two hundred horse-power
capacity and has rendered satisfactory supervisory services without any
serious accident as certified by his employer; Provided, however, That
his registration will be valid only for the works, plant, or project
where he is actually employed or similar works, plant, or project; or

“(c)
A civil service examination for senior mechanical engineer or a
mechanical engineer license issued by the Board of Examiners for
Mechanical Engineers under Act Numbered Two thousand nine hundred and
eighty-five of the Philippine Legislature of the year nineteen hundred
and twenty-one, as amended, with four years or more of active practice
in mechanical engineering work of such character showing to the
satisfaction of the Board, that the applicant is competent to take
charge of the construction, erection, installation, alteration,
operation, and management of mechanical works, projects, or plants, and
to render engineering service in connection with the manufacture, sale,
supply or distribution of mechanical equipment, machinery, or
processes. (As amended by Com. Act No. 481.).

“Sec. 26. Registration as junior mechanical engineer without examination.—No
examination shall be required of any person who shall, with his
application for registration as junior mechanical engineer, submitted to
the Board within one year after this Act becomes effective, present
evidence or other sufficient proof satisfactory to the Board, showing
that, on the date of the approval of this Act, he had any of the
following qualifications :

“(a) Had passed a civil-service examination for senior or assistant mechanical engineer; or

“(b)
Was a mechanical engineer duly licensed by the Board of Examiners for
Mechanical Engineers under Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and eighty-
five of the Philippine Legislature of the year nineteen hundred and
twenty-one, as amended.

“Sec. 27. Registration as certified plant mechanic without examination.—No
examination shall be required of any person who shall, with his
application for registration as certified plant mechanic, submitted to the Board within one year after this Act becomes effective,
present evidence satisfactory to the Board, showing that, on the date
of approval of this Act:

“(a) He had ten years of
more of active practice in mechanical plant operation of a character
showing that the applicant is competent to undertake the operation and
maintenance of mechanical works, projects, or plants of less than two
hundred horse-power, has working knowledge of and can read, write, and
speak English, Spanish, or any of the Filipino languages, and has the
first two qualifications specified under section nineteen of this Act;
or

“(b) He is actually employed on the approval
of this Act in the operation of a regularly organized mechanical works,
project, or plant of less than two hundred horse-power capacity without
serious accident as certified by his employer: Provided, however,
That his registration will be valid only for the works, project or
plant where he is actually employed or for similar works, project, or
plant.” (As amended by CA No. 481.)

Also entitled to the benefit of exemption from examination are
marine engineers with experience in marine or mechanical plant
engineering. Their case has been specially provided for by Commonwealth
Act No. 481, approved in June, 1939, amending Section 44 of the
original As amended, that section reads:

“Sec. 44. Act not affecting other professions.—This
Act shall not be construed to affect or prevent the practice of any
other legally recognized professions: Provided, however, That until
December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and forty-five, any holder of
the title of marine engineer of the merchant marine duly issued by
competent authority of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in pursuance
with the requisites and qualifications provided by the laws for marine
engineers of the merchant marine, shall be permitted to secure a
registration certificate in mechanical engineering as defined by this
Act with all the rights, privileges, and obligations incumbent in the
practice of the same as provided by this Act, under the following
limitations:

“(a) That any holder of the title of
chief marine engineer of the merchant marine may, at any time, upon
payment of thirty pesos registration fees to the Board of Mechanical
Engineering Examiners, practice as professional mechanical engineer
under this Act, without examination, provided he has in his favor
fifteen years experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering;

“(b)
That any holder of the title of chief marine engineer of the merchant
marine may, at any time, upon payment of thirty pesos registration fees
to the Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners,practice as mechanical
plant engineer under this Act, without examination, provided he has in
his favor ten years experience in marine and/or mechanical plant
engineering;

“(c) That any holder of the title of
second marine engineer of the merchant marine may’, at any time, upon
payment of twenty pesos registration fees to the Board of Mechanical
Engineering Examiners, practice as junior mechanical engineer under
this Act, without examination, provided he has in his favor eight years
experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering;

“(d)
That any holder of the title of third and fourth marine engineer of the
merchant marine may, at any time, upon payment of ten pesos
registration fees to the Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners,
practice as certified plant mechanic under this Act, without
examination, provided he has in his favor six years experience in
marine and/or mechanical plant engineering.” (As amended by CA No.
481).”

Taking advantage of the above amendment, Tomas F. Barreto and Pedro
Fortun applied in 1941 for a certificate of registration for
“professional mechanical engineer,” without previous examination, on
the strength of their status as holders of the title of chief marine
engineer of the merchant marine with “fifteen years experience in
marine and/or mechanical plant engineering” as specified in paragraph (a)
of the amendment. But the board considered their experience inadequate
for the class of certificate applied for and turned down their
application. On appeal to the Secretary of Public Works and
Communications, this office ruled (and the ruling is supported by the
opinion of the Department of Justice) that the applicants were entitled
to what they were applying for and instructed the Board to submit to
his Department for approval registration certificates for professional
mechanical engineer duly accomplished for issuance to the applicants.
With the Board showing reluctance to act as directed, the Philippine
Association of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, a private entity
claiming to have interest in the maintenance of high standards in the
mechanical engineering profession, decided to intervene, and upon the
ground that the Secretary’s directive to the board was without the
authority of law and constituted a grave abuse of official discretion,
brought the present special civil action for a writ of prohibition and
certiorari to have the directive declared void and the Secretary and
the Board enjoined from proceeding further in the premises and from
issuing to the applicants, without previous examination, certificates of
registration for professional mechanical engineer. The petition is
conformed to by the Board but opposed by the Secretary as well as by
the applicants themselves, who, because of their interest in the
subject matter of the action, have been allowed to intervene.

Brushing aside objection to the petitioner’s legal capacity to
institute this action, a technicality which may well be overlooked
after the Board has, by its answer, made common cause with the
petitioner, the case presents a simple matter of statutory application.
The specific!legal provision to be applied is section 44 (a)
of Commonwealth Act No. 294, as amended, which, until December 31,
1945, accords to any holder of the title of marine engineer of the
merchant marine the has had “fifteen years experience in marine and/or
mechanical engineering” the privilege to practice as professional
mechanical engineer,without previous examination.

The record shows and it is not disputed that both applicants are
holders of the title of chief marine engineer of the merchant marine.
Neither is there any question that they both have fifteen years
experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering, this
experience being summarized in the opinion rendered by the Secretary of
Justice on February 20, 1950, as follows:

“The record of Mr. Tomas F. Barretto shows that, from
1924 to 1935 (a period of 12 years), he served as engineer in various
steamships in ranks ranging from 4th to 1st and as assistant chief
engineer and chief engineer of the San Miguel Brewery, from 1936 to
1945 (a period of 9 years). Mr. Fortun’s record shows that he was 3rd
and 4th marine engineer from 1914 to 1921 (7 years) and a train
engineer and a mill engineer from 1921 to 1939 (18 years).”

And it furthermore appears that both applicants, solely on the
strength of their said title and experience, have already been issued
by the Board a certificate of registration for it mechanical plant
engineer” under another paragraph of the section now under
consideration (Section 44(b), as amended). It is, however, claimed that
applicants’ experience, as above set forth, though sufficient for the
profession of “mechanical plant engineer,” is inadequate for that of
“professional mechanical engineer,” the Board being of the opinion that
the exercise of the latter profession requires experience in the
“preparation of plans, designs, investigations, technical reports,
specifications or estimates.” We find no legal basis for this claim.
The law is clear and explicit. All that it requires, in the case of a
marine engineer applying for a,certificate of registration as a
“professional mechanical engineer” is, in addition to the title of
chief marine engineer of the Merchant marine, possession of “fifteen
years experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering.” It
does not say, that that experience should include the preparation of
plans, designs, investigations, technical reports, specifications or
estimates. Experience in those matters might conceivably be desirable.
But the law has not gone to the extent of requiring it, and the
Board ban go to further than the law. The board can only administer
the statute as it is and not as it thinks it is had be.

That the Board wants to read into the law something that is not
there, is obvious from a perusal of all the paragraphs of Section 44 of
the Act as amended. For it is there to be noted that the same kind of
experience is required of all the four grades of mechanical engineers
entitled to a certificate of registration without previous examination.
Be it for the grade of professional mechanical engineer (par. [a]), which occupies top rank, or for that of mere certified plant mechanic (par. [d]), which occupies the lowest, the only experience required is “experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering.” The length of experience required varies according to grade: 15 years for professional mechanical engineer (par. [a]), 10 years for mechanical plant engineer (par. [b]), 8 years for junior mechanical engineer (par. [c]), and 6 years for certified plant mechanic (par. [d]).
But the subject of experience remains the same and there is not the
faintest suggestion that it should include more in one grade than in
any of the others.

It should be noted in this connection that, in the matter of
exemption from examination, the law has not placed marine engineers on
the same footing as mechanical engineers on land. This is evident from
the fact that their case has been provided for specifically and
separately in an amendment to section 44 of the Act and not by an
amendment to those sections (24 to 27) which specify the conditions
under which mechanical engineers on land may register without previous examination. Obviously, the purpose of the law is to enable marine
engineers with the requisite title and experience as such to practice
mechanical engineering on land without subjecting them to the
conditions specified in sections 24 to 27. To apply to them any of
those conditions is to go against the clear intent of the lawmaker.

It follows from the foregoing that the Secretary of Public Works
and Communications has correctly ruled that the applicants, Tomas F.
Barreto and Pedro Fortun, are each entitled to a certificate of
registration as professional mechanical engineer. And in directing that
the proper certificates be prepared for issuance, the Secretary cannot,
contrary to petitioner’s claim, be said to have encroached upon or
interfered with the technical functions of the Board, for this entity
has no technical functions to perform in connection with the
preparation and issuance of said certificates. As already noted, this
is not a case falling under sections 24 to 27 of the Act, which empowers
the Board to examine the nature and extent of the applicant’s
experience and determine from the standpoint of its technical knowledge
whether that experience is sufficient for the practice of mechanical
engineering. The case comes squarely and specifically under section 44,
as amended, where all that is required, in addition to title, is
experience in marine and/or mechanical plant engineering. It being
undisputed that applicants have that experience to their credit, the
Board may not require more.

The Board has by its answer made it plain that it is opposed to the
aforementioned directive of the Secretary of Public Works and
Communications, and the question may be asked whether the Secretary
could legally compel it to do an act which in its opinion should not be
done. But the question is of no importance and need not be decided
here. It having been determined that the applicants are by law entitled
to what they are asking for, it becomes the Board’s plain duty to grant
it, and this Court will not interfere with an official act directing
compliance with that duty when the directive comes from the Department
of the Government having supervisory authority over the Board.

For the foregoing considerations, the petition is denied, with costs against the petitioner.

Moran, C.J., Ozaeta, Paras, Pablo, Bengzon, Tuason, and Montemayor, JJ., concur.