Aber P. Canlas, then the deputy Minister of Public Work and Highways
(MPWH) became the sixth president of PICE in 1984 and kept the presidency
until the end of 1986. It was during Canlas' administration that
PICE was involved in an International activity thru the holding
of the 4th conference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations
or CAFEO-4, which was hosted by the Philippine Technological Council
(PTC) on September 25-27, 1985 at the Philippine Plaza Hotel. President
Canlas, then PICE representative in the PTC, was the chairman of
the federation's Governing Body and PICE became the lead organization
that successfully managed that prestigious international affair.
The
seventh President of PICE is the amiable and ever-jolly Juanito
"Janet" Nery Ferrer who was elected when he was Undersecretary of
DPWH. He eventually became the full-pledged secretary of DPWH before
his second term ended in 1988. He therefore became the second Cabinet
Secretary to serve the PICE presidency after past president Jesus
Hipolito. President "Janet", as he popularly known, is well remembered
for his vision in establishing a more solid moral foundation for
the next generations of Filipino Civil Engineers. He was very concerned
about the moral re-orientation and regeneration of our people after
the 20 year plunder of the past government regime. Also, he felt
that civil engineers had to bring back the pride and dignity of
the civil engineering profession.
It
was during Ferrer's administration that serious efforts were exerted
to acquire a permanent headquarters for the PICE and acquire sophisticated
office and equipment such as microcomputer to better serve the needs
of the general membership. Thru very successful fund-raising activities,
the initial amount of P550,000.00 was placed in the bank as a trust
fund under the PICE Foundation, Inc. the plan then was to acquire
an office space at the Strata 200 Bldg. of the Ortigas Complex.
And as part of the decentralization program of his administration,
a very successful midyear National Convention was held in Davao
City in July 1988 ably hosted by the local PICE chapter of that
beautiful and alluring southern metropolis.
The eight President
of the Institute is David M. Consunji, a former Secretary of the
Department of Public Works, Transportation and Communication (DPWTC)
and the president of a very prestigious construction firm bearing
his name.
President
Consunji served for two (2) terms striving to maintain the momentum
of the Institute's growth for the last 15 years from 1974. His
first term was spent mostly in consultation with the local chapters
trying to identify the problems that beset the Institute because
he believed in the dictum that problems known are already half
solved.
It
is to the credit of the Consunji administration that the present
successful program on Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
for civil engineers was finally resolved and eventually adopted
by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as a pre-requisite
in the renewal of professional license.
The
ninth President of PICE is the ever-smiling Romulo M. Del Rosario,
Undersecretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways,
then in-charge of all DPWH infrastructure projects in Bicol, the
Visayas and the whole of Mindanao.
