FVC Construction

21/08/2026

The Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) and Its Accomplishments Under Its Immediate Past Two (2)-man Board (over the 7-month period from 26 November 2025 through 25 June 2026)
The PCAB is a chartered institution created by statute (i.e., which accords the office certain standing under E.O. No. 292, The Administrative Code of 1987), and is considered under the Construction Industry Authority of the PH (CIAP), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). PCAB operates by virtue of R.A. No. 4566 (of 1965), as amended by P.D. No. 1746 (of 1980), and as further amended under R.A. No. 11711 (of 2022).
Hereafter are PCAB’s modest accomplishments under its immediate past 2-man Board (i.e., over 7 calendar months of incumbency), also noting that at the time, the third (3rd) PCAB member was not appointed to fill up the vacancy.
1) a minimum of 22,302 PCAB regular (commercial) and special license applications acted upon, with 15,322 approvals and 6,980 (31.30%) disapprovals via the PCAB (online) dashboard (i.e., relying mainly on prior PCAB staff work, with 1,500 approvals pre-processed by DTI-CIAP before the official assumption of the positions of the 2-man PCAB Board in late November 2025); depending on the nature, period and purpose of the license application, the license application fees may have then ranged between Php5,000.00 as minimum up to approximately Php35,000.00 as maximum; it is conservatively estimated that up to Php125.0M may have been raised as PCAB income on processed license applications alone during said 7-month period;
2) a minimum of 695 manager interviews conducted by remote, i.e., with 656 authorized managing officer (AMO) candidates for locally-owned construction firms and 39 AMO candidates at panel interviews (PI) for foreign-owned construction firms;
3) a minimum of PhP13.5 M in confirmed/collected fines under Section 2 of R.A. No. 11711 duly levied on 135 PCAB license applicants investigated and deemed/adjudged guilty of violating R.A. No. 11711 and/or R.A. No. 4566;
4) 2 exhaustive regular PCAB Board meetings, i.e., the last one occurring in 3 tranches (i.e., at different dates), aside from multiple other special Board meetings held by remote;
5) about 12 PCAB Board resolutions (i.e., including the resolution of pending administrative cases filed at the PCAB), duly reviewed on multiple occasions, approved and promulgated by said PCAB Board; and
6) about 25 draft PCAB Board resolutions and positions specifically crafted to help reform and streamline the PCAB and its operations, i.e., backed by secondary research on PCAB documents/cases/policies, and applicable law, including recent Supreme Court decisions on PCAB- and various construction-related cases; these resolutions only need filing at the Office of the National Administrative Register (ONAR) at the University of the Philippines (UP) Law Center in Diliman, Quezon City to take full effect as new PCAB regulations. These new regulations included measures to pare down the number of application disapprovals (perhaps occasioned by an overly strict application process).

29/03/2026

A MID-2025 POSITION OF THE ARCHITECTURE ADVOCACY INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION (“AAIF”), INC., A PHILIPPINE (“PH”) NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION (“NGO”):

“CONTRACTING IS A BUSINESS, AND MUST NEVER BE CONFUSED WITH THE LAWFUL PRACTICE OF ANY STATE-REGULATED PROFESSION (“SRP”)”

While there are common commercial offers from Philippine/“PH” Contractors Accreditation Board (“PCAB”)-licensed contractors to undertake BOTH the design and construction of infrastructure and/or building/grounds projects, there is definite need to officially distinguish “CONTRACTING” (i.e., a business or a commercial activity regulated by the PCAB, sometimes also referred to as the “business of building”), and “DESIGNING” (which is the lawful practice of a state-regulated profession/”SRP”, duly governed by various professional regulatory laws/”PRL” implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment/”DoLE” through the Professional Regulation Commission/”PRC”).

The construction-related PRLs (including their respective streams of regulation/”SoR”, NOT limited to their implementing rules and regulations/”IRR”, codes of ethical conduct/”CEC”, standards of professional practice/”SPP”, guidelines and procedural manuals/”GPM”, and similar executive issuances (”EI”), including Joint Memorandum Circulars/”JMC”, currently and collectively administered/indirectly implemented by the PRC through the concerned Professional Regulatory Boards/”PRB”.

In the mid-1970s, “CONTRACTING” was transferred from PRC to the then Ministry of Trade (now the Department of Trade and Industry/”DTI”) as it was then CORRECTLY classified as a BUSINESS and NOT the practice of a SRP, which is a PRIVILEGE officially granted by the state mainly to NATURAL persons and duly-qualified juridical entities, based on the pertinent PRL, as in R.A. No. 9266 (for Architecture) and R.A. No. 10587 (for Environmental Planning).

The PH Supreme Court in its General Resolution (“G.R.”) No. 217590, March 10, 2020, Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (“PCAB”), Petitioner, V. Manila Water Company, Inc., Respondent (at link https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/66190), has reinforced that classification of CONTRACTING as a BUSINESS, states:

“x x x the supposed government interest in limiting the practice of a profession to Filipino citizens is inapplicable to construction considering that contracting for purposes of engaging in construction activities is not a profession, as it is not one regulated by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the term "professional" refers to an individual not a corporation or firm.” (emphases and underscoring supplied)

x x x
“x x x. Section 14, Article XII of the Constitution refers to the privilege of a natural person to exercise his profession in the Philippines. On the other hand, under Article IV of R.A. No. 4566, even partnerships, corporations and organizations can qualify for a contractor's license through its responsible officer. The "profession" under the aforesaid provision refers to the practice of natural persons of a certain field in which they are trained, certified, and licensed. Being a licensed contractor does not automatically qualify within the ambit of the Constitution as a "profession" per se.
A contractor under R.A. No. 4566 does not refer to a specific practice of profession, i.e., architecture, engineering, medicine, accountancy and the like. In fact, Section 9(a) and (b) of R.A. No. 4566 reads x x x
Suffice it to say that a corporation or juridical person, in this case a construction firm, cannot be considered a "professional" that is being exclusively restricted by the Constitution and our laws to Filipino citizens. The licensing of contractors is not to engage in the practice of a specific profession, but rather to engage in the business of contracting/construction.
The basis for petitioner's argument, that construction is considered a profession, is also out of context. x x x. It does not follow that just because a license is required under R.A. No. 4566, a licensed contractor is already considered a professional under the Constitution.
Professionalizing the construction business is different from the exercise of profession which the Constitution exclusively restricts to Filipino citizens. To reiterate, the license required under R.A. No. 4566 is for purposes of engaging in the business of contracting under the terms of the said act for a fiscal year or a certain period/project, and not for the purpose of practicing a particular profession. The responsible officer who secures a license for contracting, for his own business or for the company, may already be a professional in his own field (i.e., engineer, architect). Then again, the license acquired under R.A. No. 4566 does not make the licensed contractor a "professional" within the meaning contemplated under Section 14, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
More telling is the fact that applicants for contractor's licenses are not required to have Philippine citizenship unlike those who are considered as professionals in the country. x x x. The law merely requires at least two years of experience in the construction industry, and knowledge of building, safety, health and lien laws of the Republic of the Philippines and the rudimentary administrative principles of the contracting business. x x x. (emphases and underscoring supplied)
From a layman’s viewpoint, the foregoing can mainly be interpreted as follows:
1) that PCAB-registered contractors have NEVER been granted the privilege to practice state-regulated professions (“SRP”) under their contractor licenses; at most, they may probably render construction-related services as part of their business, i.e., construction management (“CM”) services, including fulltime construction supervision (“FCS”) services through their fulltime sustaining technical employees (“STE”);
2) to lawfully render SRP, the PCAB-registered contractors must do any of the following:
• formally associate with natural or juridical persons permitted by law to engage in SRP to prepare the design documents and to assume the mandated professional responsibilities and civil liability under law; or
• operate a subsidiary operation, separately registered with DTI or SEC, and mainly focused on the rendition of SRP; or
• utilize the STE as natural persons to render SRP in a separate private capacity covered by a professional service contract (“PSC”) detailing professional compensation per project and the manner of assumption of civil liability, e.g., professional liability insurance/”PLI”, and the like) once the STE is separated from service.
3) PCAB-licensed contractors who continue to perhaps unlawfully render SRP may be sued for violations of the pertinent PRL, i.e., for illegal practice of a SRP/willful violation of PRL/s. Thanks.
Nothing follows.

20/03/2026

19/03/2026

UNOFFICIAL (and Largely General) Information on the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (“PCAB”) and Its Current Processes

Very Important Notes: As this is largely UNOFFICIAL information, it is best to always secure the desired information from official internet sites/public offices. Potential PCAB license applicants are also advised to directly seek the assistance of sufficiently-experienced lawyers, certified public accountants (“CPA”) and duly-qualified technical professionals like project/construction managers (“PCM”), or architects or engineers or other contractors in the preparation, self-vetting/checking and online submission of their application documents and in the preparation of their key officials for the conduct of PCAB interviews.

The PCAB is a government agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) and is one of the 5 implementing Boards in the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (“CIAP”). R.A. No. 4566 (the Contractor’s License law of 1965 (at link https://www.gppb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Republic-Act-No.-4566.pdf; https://construction.gov.ph/laws/laws-pcab/irr-of-ra-4566-for-licensing-of-constructors/) was amended by P.D. No. 1746 of 1980 (at link https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/26/15909), later further amended by R.A. No. 11711 in 2022 (at link https://construction.gov.ph/issuances/ciap-implementing-rules-and-regulations-of-pd-1746-2/). The law provides that no contractor (including sub-contractor and specialty contractor or labor contractor or installer) shall engage in the business of contracting (including labor supply and material/equipment installation, which are construction activities), without first having secured a PCAB license to conduct business.

It is an offense to engage in contracting business without a license first being obtained and serious fines and other punitive measures await those who either wittingly or unwittingly violate the law.

To secure a PCAB license, one needs to go through the PCAB portal through account creation. Thereafter, more detailed instructions are issued. It is very important to follow all instructions faithfully to avoid the disapproval of Your PCAB license application. Depending on an applicant’s compliances, the application process time (for new licenses or license renewal or other licensing cm classification transactions) may take approximately nineteen (19) days for successful license applicants. Unsuccessful (or repetitive) applicants may take much, much longer than 19 days as they would then need to rejoin the application queue at the back of the line. The reprocessing of disapproved applications may also mean paying additional fees.

The relevant links are as follows:
1) PCAB Portal at link https://pcabgovph.com/
2) Instructional Guide at link https://pcabgovph.com/instructionalguides.php
3) Rules and Regulations Governing Licensing of Constructors in the Philippines at linkhttps://pcabgovph.com/assets/Rules%20and%20Regulation%20Governing%20Licensing%20of%20Constructors.pdf
4) Data Privacy Policy at linkhttps://pcabgovph.com/assets/PCAB_DATA_PRIVACY_POLICY.pdf

All PCAB license applicants must have the following FULLTIME staff:
1) An authorized managing officer (“AMO”) who will be primarily responsible for ensuring that the construction company fully complies with all mandates under the applicable construction and related laws; and
2) At least one (1) sustaining technical employee (“STE”) who if suitably experienced, will essentially be the State-regulated professional/s (“SRP”) for their construction company. Both the PCAB license category (E through AAAA) and the contractor classification (mainly general buildings/”GB” and/or general engineering/”GE”) will be highly dependent on both the STE qualifications and the company CAPITALIZATION, among other requirements. NO GB and/or GE classification is granted to category E PCAB license holders.

Both the AMO and the STE would need to attend seminars, including those relating to construction safety, pass written tests and hurdle interviews (mostly conducted online, i.e., recorded under oath).
Construction companies desiring PCAB licensing may have intentions of joining private or public procurement processes, may be local or foreign construction companies, or may be joint ventures (“JV”) among PCAB-licensed contractors.

All PCAB-licensed contractors assume the mandatory CIVIL LIABILITY under Article 1723 of R.A. No. 386, the 1949 New Civil Code of the Philippines (“CCP” at link https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1949/06/18/republic-act-no-386/), and in the case of building collapse, may need to wait for a 10-year period within which a case for damages against the erring/failing contractor could be brought.

Contracting is classified as a business, and that is the main reason why it was removed from the Professional Regulation Commission (“PRC”) in the mid-1970s and transferred to the DTI (i.e., refer also to a more recent PH Supreme Court decision at link https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/66190).

More importantly, the business of constructing/contracting does NOT allow the PCAB-licensed contractors to engage in the practice of State-regulated professions (“SRP”) governed by professional regulatory laws (“PRL”) such as R.A. No. 9266, already reinforced by a 2023 Supreme Court decision (at link https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/1491; https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/sc-only-registered-and-licensed-architects-may-sign-architectural-documents/), R.A. No. 544, as amended by R.A. No. 1582 (at link. https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1950/ra_544_1950.html) and R.A. No. 10587 (at link https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/57103), among many other SRPs. Contractors are generally advised to directly engage the services of qualified SRPs or qualified consulting firms for their physical planning and/or building/grounds design needs. FYI only. Thank You.

SEC. 5. Qualifications of Members of the Professional Regulatory Board. — Each member shall, at the time of his/her appointment, posses the following qualifications:

19/03/2026

Active Links to a Reference Philippine (“PH”) Local Government Unit (“LGU”) Zoning Ordinance (“ZO”) Based on Both the 2014 HLURB Comprehensive Land Use Planning (“CLUP”) Guidebook Volume 3 (Model Zoning Ordinance/”MZO”) and the Most Recent Technical Interpretations of the 2004 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (“RIRR”) of P.D. No. 1096, the 1977 National Building Code of the Philippines (“NBCP”) and Its Stream of Regulations (“SoR”)

Primary Sources: 2022 - 2024 Tomeldan, Alli & Molina (T.A.M.) Planners Co. (with RSDPI), Architecture Advocacy International Foundation (AAIF), Inc., and the LGU of Pasig City NCR

Very Important Note: The LGU of Pasig City’s Zoning Ordinance (“ZO”) and Stream of Regulations (“SoR”), i.e., not limited to its Implementing Rules and Regulations (”IRR”) embodied in its accompanying Annexes and Appendices Volume (”AAV”) were all ratified by the PH Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development in late 2024, and were rolled out for general information dissemination cm implementation/enforcement by the LGU of Pasig City NCR (i.e., a highly urbanized city/”HUC”) sometime immediately thereafter.

A) Pasig City Full Disclosure Portal
https://pasigcity.gov.ph/full-disclosure-portal?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89NhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnXVKohBW9TrbVP3zXRM_kvk04Sk6M7KSLIfpDZQfEWUhhj7Azds2pJQRWPU_aem_-LhZ7HDshSrXNgvP9sXNJA

B) Ordinance No. 63, Series of 2024: A Zoning Ordinance (ZO) for the City of Pasig, Providing for the Administration, Enforcement and Amendment Thereof and for the Repeal of All Ordinances in Conflict Therewith [Updated], signed by the concerned Pasig City LGU officials (led by the Hon. Mayor Vico Sotto) on 21 October 2024, at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67d7c7bb8d3821742194619Ord%20No.%2063-2024.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89PtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuhq0dOeScgx1ZM-75_5dp3hVHwKEXu89vKQDOB8v38IpYXqXTBj1-kuZ51C_aem_sF_09hE97WF3rvxwsuHZcQ

C) Annexes (ZO.23 Implementing Rules and Regulations/IRR) Part 1/6 (pp 1-231) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c675622ba621741059426part%201.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89TJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHp6yCN5gMidvRinJoQXZatlpN5GF_zPqSgQSL8F0BX-zfNdQpyW4wQHYu3HS_aem_KYFI80UuhT9Y8-giHU9iFQ

D) Annex (ZO.23 IRR) Part 2/6 (pp 231-467) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c6757b45bf71741059451part%202.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89VtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnXVKohBW9TrbVP3zXRM_kvk04Sk6M7KSLIfpDZQfEWUhhj7Azds2pJQRWPU_aem_-LhZ7HDshSrXNgvP9sXNJA

E) Annexes (ZO.23 IRR) Part 3/6 (pp 468-692) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c67609b6e701741059593part%203.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89ZtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHm3l1c0MsueJXH02HhF0e5rbR1XkxUz5JTWO8YTmOMBAbK4lFry30u_5g0ic_aem_LUQ3FpLtDp5bvu0euqTeNA

F) Annexes (ZO.23 IRR) Part 4/6 (pp 693-1020) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c676b7de9891741059767part%204.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89ctleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHj3HY1F-pDfCeT65wkk3XVQ3qDFB6A-ROCd6IuXA5uI3rvKN5kBDQ10-JMex_aem_mxLs-jRLUnxYjyEt6zU6dw

G) Annexes (ZO.23 IRR) Part 5/6 (pp 1021-1207) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c67723b856c1741059875part%205.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89fNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHm3l1c0MsueJXH02HhF0e5rbR1XkxUz5JTWO8YTmOMBAbK4lFry30u_5g0ic_aem_LUQ3FpLtDp5bvu0euqTeNA

H) Annexes (ZO.23 IRR) Part 6/6 (pp 1208-1214) and
Appendices (ZO General Technical References/GTR), i.e., pp 1215-1474) at link:
https://assets.pasigcity.gov.ph/storage/city_ordinance/2024/10/21/67c678f258fc71741060338part%206.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP89hlleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExMzZvbEJvM1NvM1A3b2wxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnXVKohBW9TrbVP3zXRM_kvk04Sk6M7KSLIfpDZQfEWUhhj7Azds2pJQRWPU_aem_-LhZ7HDshSrXNgvP9sXNJA

Nothing follows.

17/03/2026

A March 2026 AAIF document combining the text of R.A. No. 11711 (i.e., the 2022 law further amending R.A. No. 4566, the original 1965 Contractor's License Law). This document is an updated version of a 2024 AAIF document. R.A. No. 11711 joined P.D. No. 1746, the earlier (1980) law that carried the initial set of amendments to portions of R.A. No. 4566. Thank You. AAIF (Administrator of this NBCP page).

15/01/2026

Happening this Saturday (starting 5pm on 17 January 2026) at Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI) Makati City (at corners Arnaiz Ave./formerly Pasay Road and Chino Roces Ave./formerly Pasong Tamo (a Half Century After High School):
Together as One/Don Bosco Makati Alumni Homecoming 2026 at link

Get ready to reconnect with old friends and relive the good times at the Don Bosco Makati.