During the Spanish colonial period there were no Filipino

During the Spanish colonial period, there were no Filipino civil engineers. The Spaniards made us think that we were inferior to them, suppressing our abilities and skills to build, design, and plan any structure during those times. On the brighter aspect, many infrastructures were built at the time, integrating the European standards in the installations of those structures, which helped the Filipinos in going from one place to another, transporting their goods and the like. Apart from that, imagine how little we were in the eyes of these foreign invaders, it’s saddening because even up to this day, we are still being labeled as people of no ability, intelligence and such.

Marcial Kasilag is known to be the first registered civil engineer in the Philippines. He inaugurated civil engineering in the Philippines in the 1900s. Engr. Kasilag holds the first spot in the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) Registry of Civil Engineers. A group of civil engineers who work for the government at the time formed the Philippine Society of Civil Engineers (PSCE) and Engr.

Kasilag became its first ever president.

One of the most inspiring stories in this field is about our late President Fidel V. Ramos. Unlike the other presidents of our country, mostly lawyers, FVR is a licensed civil engineer and he also ranked as the eighth placer on his board exam. His dream of becoming a civil engineer manifested after the World War II. He saw massive destruction of the bridges, bombed out buildings – the place was messy and chaotic.

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That’s when he realized that the country needs to be flourished and reconstructed; the country needs aspiring engineers like him. When he emerged as the President in 1992, he fulfilled his vow to build infrastructures such as roads and bridges that fused remote localities to the cities in the provinces. He finished his projects on time and it became his trademark. Now, I ask you, do we need civil engineers like him today?

Could the world be growing nowadays if civil engineering wasn’t coined yet? Where would we be if not because of civil engineering? Question after question. There are so many reasons why the government should give more attention to the civil engineering profession in our country. One of it is because we are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, which means we are very prone to having earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and we also experience an average of at least 20 typhoons per year. Last April 22, 2019, a magnitude 6.1 quake has hit us. Infrastructures such as the Clark International Airport, SM City Olongapo, the arch in the boundary of Bataan and Pampanga, old churches, supermarkets have been destroyed by this earthquake. This has resulted into casualties of at least 18 and more or less 300 injuries. The country needs infrastructures that can survive those calamities. A good civil engineering could be one of the solutions. We don’t just make buildings to go for, but rather buildings to live for. We need to construct infrastructures that ensure the safety of its people even during this type of scenarios. Safety is our topmost priority.

On the other hand, there are many news in relation to civil engineering that concern us. One of them was the suspicious 12-million wooden foot bridge that collapsed Zamboanga City, carrying government officials. If this foot bridge has undergone a thorough study and has a good structural design, it wouldn’t have flunked. This is another reason for the government to focus about. There were many government projects, in my perspective, that were deficient and substandard; and were sometimes long overdue. The problem is that we rush things, we force things. Why? It is because we are being blinded by money – corruption occurs. You, as a civil engineer, vowed to practice your profession that guarantees convenience and safety of your people – what happened to your oath? We don’t just need engineers but it is our necessity to have responsible and empathic ones. We do need those who really care about their countrymen; whom we can trust our lives enough; and whose intentions are pure and for the betterment of the well-being. But the government hasn’t seemed to find one. One example of this is the “Build Build Build” project. Look at their work: is it stable? Successful? We cannot judge it as of now for the current administration isn’t finished yet, but looking at the recent reports, this project seems to be illusory. It is like we’re wasting money and it’s taking too much time. Moreover, the government should concentrate on how their infrastructure projects are going, because as it is really taking longer time to be accomplished, the more hassle and inconvenience it brings to the mass. For an instance, the road projects in various parts of Metro Manila greatly contribute to traffic. Thus, the engineering of those schemes should be carried out correctly, should be well-managed, and should commit a well-planned completion schedule. Punctuality is a must, but beyond that, we should always consider quality.

Since we’re a developing country, we need to keep up with the global standards especially in our facilities. Engineering, as a field of Science and Technology, is greatly affected by the advancing technologies worldwide. We should step up our game, as they say. The government should give support to this field because little do we know, we might give solution to the pressing problems of the country. They should support students that compete internationally when it comes to engineering-related inventions such as our very own Fire Luminosity and Multisensory Equipment (Project FLAME), because it is not only pride that they can give to our country but will also help government agencies to alleviate fires, thus contributing into less casualties during these times. Providing support to engineering inventions increase the confidence of the people, especially the youth, to never stop learning, to further modify things that will help better our lives.

How would the world work if engineering isn’t present? Could the world be growing nowadays if civil engineering wasn’t coined yet? Where would we be if not because of civil engineering? Engineering has a lot to offer us, we shouldn’t miss that. Everywhere you go, you’d see buildings – and there’s engineering behind those. It shouldn’t be left behind. It shouldn’t be paid less attention. As a final point, the government should provide support or give attention to engineering because of (1) our geologic location which made us very apt for geologic hazards which calls for the need of good engineering design and such; (2) unstable and low quality infrastructure projects which bring hassle and inconvenience to the citizens which needs to be thoroughly planned and built so that we wouldn’t have to invest much money to useless ones – accumulating more debts and foreign loans; and also to (3) adapt with the global standards especially because of the advancing technologies nowadays. Henceforth, it should always be the people, the Filipinos, whom we think of. As a civil engineering student, I have so many ideas and dreams for my hometown – I believe that one day I can help solve the problems such as dark and dull roads in my place and even the nation. No traffic? Good transportation system? Sturdy and hazard-proof buildings? Someday, I could be one – I could be the engineer my country needs. I may be too young and still requires much time to learn about my program, but I’m up for the challenge. Now, I ask you, would you be one of us?