The Status of Geodetic Engineers in the Philippines

Geodetic Engineering in the Philippines went through a lot of resets before being finally recognized as a profession. The story of this battle for a “profession-label” started on December 5, 1929 and ended on June 19, 1965 upon the enactment of the Republic Act No. 4374 known as the “Geodetic Engineering Law”, under the act any person who was technically and qualified to practice geodetic engineering shall be called “Geodetic Engineer” superseding the term “Surveyor.”After years of revising the law, on February 26, 1998, the Republic Act No. 8560 also known as “Philippines Geodetic Engineering Act of 1998” was passed into law. In the present days, more than hundreds of Filipinos works and are recognized as a Geodetic Engineers here and abroad.

Admit it or not, Geodetic Engineers are not quite known in the Philippines sometimes it is being referred as Geologists.There are points that arise as factors why Geodetic Engineers has the lesser number of people taking it as a profession. First are the schools that offer Geodetic Engineering as a degree course.Many students don't have much time to spend in career planning during their degree course. Mostly of the students who took engineering courses chooses the course that is known or been recognized for years.Recognition of it as real profession is the one of the reasons why people took it as degree course. According to World Wide Learn (2015) the recognition of the degree course is important because it is the facet of your future. For a student who wants to take Geodesy as their profession in the Philippines, there are only twenty-seven accredited schools offering Geodetic Engineering as a degree program all over the Philippines in which fifteen are private schools and fourteen of itis public schools. Second, the percentage of the Geodetic Engineer Licensure Examination Passers. According to Verma (2013)Board exams act as stepping stone for our glorious future, they are the true test of merit, and successful accomplishment of exam takes a student to another level. The results of the board exams are the basis of the status of Geodetic Engineers in the Philippines. It shows of how recognized the course it is to the country. To be qualified as having passed the board examination for Geodetic Engineers, a candidate must obtain a weighted general average of seventy percent (70%), with no grade lower than fifty-five percent (55%) in any given subject.In the year 2012, out of two hundred fifty-one board takers 35.14% of it passed. In the year 2013, out of three hundred eighty-four board takers 37.5% of it passed. In the year 2014, out of four hundred seventy-nine board takers 37.37% of it passed. In the year 2015, out of five hundred ten board takers 35.10% of it passed (prc.gov.ph). Based on the figures above, it shows that the number of the Geodetic Engineers in the Philippines is increasing each year which also means that more Geodetic Engineers are added. Lastly, one of the reasons why people choose a certain degree program is to achieve their life goals others ensure that he will have a job after he graduates. As for geodetic engineers the land of the Philippines is quite small for the hundreds of Geodetic Engineers working already since only few parts of the Philippines are allowed to be centralized. Since the job as a surveyor is limited, most of the geodetic engineers in the Philippines have two jobs. There are certain career opportunities offered to Geodetic Engineerssuch as Geographic information system supervisor, Marketing computer hardware specialist, Realty management Consultant, Mapping and Surveying Staff, Consultant in Foreign-funded, Land registration Consultant, Government positions, Surveying Consultant, Private practice, Academician, and Researcher.The jobs offered to geodetic engineers are parted into two;they can work for private or public sectors. As of August 2014 – August 2015 the Phil GEPS, a public sector offered a job for twenty-two (22) Geodetic Engineers. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) offered a job for nineteen (19) Geodetic Engineers.

After battling for the profession-label of Geodetic Engineering, it is a must that we should be grateful that it is finally recognized as a profession. We are lucky that this time there are more accredited schools that are offering Geodetic Engineering than before. Through the improvement of the education and being globally competitive it is not a question when a lot of people passed the Geodetic Engineers Licensure Examination. Because of this private and public sectors are offering jobs for the Geodetic Engineers to work with, surely the status of Geodetic Engineers in the Philippines is not as loud compared to other Engineering but the important is that they are as competitive as them.