As part of the Civil Engineering Week celebration on November 23-29, 2009, the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineering (PICE), Inc., opens today its 35th National Convention in Baguio City with the theme “PICE: Leading the Way to Green Buildings and Infrastructure.”

The convention is expected to draw members from PICE’s 96 chapters from Cagayan in the north to Sulu in the south, belonging to government departments and agencies, construction companies, consulting firms, and colleges and universities.

The presentation of construction technologies, services, and building materials, exhibits, national awards, a job fair, international roundtable discussions, College of Fellows meeting, 10th Bridge Building Competition, and the 12th National Civil Engineering Students’ Conference will highlight the celebration. There will be lectures on Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Strategies (DMAPs) for infrastructure, green building, updates on court cases on the implementing rules and regulations of the National Building Code, and sessions on the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 and Solid Waste Management.

The papers to be presented at the convention are supportive of the continuing effort to stimulate the conduct of new researches in the field, encourage maintenance of high ethical standards in the practice of civil engineering, and foster an improved civil engineering curriculum that will prepare students to be in a par with their global counterparts.

The history of civil engineering as a profession dates back 1920 when the Philippine Society of Civil Engineers (PSCE) was founded by a group of civil engineers mostly in government. The Philippine Association of Civil Engineers (PACE) was organized in 1937 by a group of civil engineers from the private sector. Realizing that the two organizations shared the same objectives of raising the standards of the profession, encouraging research and engineering knowledge and technology, fostering fellowship among their members, and promoting interrelation with other technological and scientific societies, they merged in 1972 to form what is now the PICE.

We congratulate the Officers and Members of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc., led by their National President Engineer Venancio I. Besavilla Jr., on the occasion of their 35th National Convention and Annual Election. We wish them success in all their endeavors.