PHILIPPINE INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

USANT STUDENT CHAPTER

https://www.facebook.com/pice.usant

Date: 23 September 2015

To: Engr. Editha C. Dacara

Dean, Architecture, Engineering and Technology Department

From: Mark Lincel Tagong

PIO, PICE USANT

Subject: NATIONAL CIVIL ENGINEERING SUMMIT 2015

Every year, the University of the Philippines’ Association of Civil Engineering

Students (UP ACES) hosts the National Civil Engineering Summit (NCES) at UP
Diliman. Our university has sent 37 participants including 2 teachers namely Engr.
Raymond Tandaan and Engr. Edmund Salvadora. The National Civil Engineering
Summit is a two-week long series of events that provides a venue for learning and
fellowship geared towards collaboration between civil engineering students and
professionals but only some events were suitable for the USANT delegates. As a civil
engineering student, I was encouraged to join for the NCES is the largest gathering in the
civil engineering field where the UP ACES succeeds to touch as many lives as they can.
It was held from September 10- 12, 2015. Before the departure on September 8, 2015 at
around 7pm, the students together with their parents as well as the dean and other
teachers had their meeting with the University President, Atty. Santiago Ortega Jr. The
arrival was on September 9 at around 9 am. September 13 was a free day at SM Mall of
Asia and the departure back in Bicol at around 9 pm.

Observations

During our first day but not supposed to be the start of the event, which was the
symposium, I was impressed that everything was well planned although there have been a
slight technical difficulty when one of the speakers flashed a video clip. There was also
an exhibit which we visited during our vacant time. There was a new event that was
introduced by the UP ACES called the profiles which was a talk from a renowned civil
engineer. The Lab tour was as well organized where students were divided into groups
and the discussion was simultaneous. The CE quiz was intended for selected students but
we were informed that participants from the school weren’t able to make it to the finals.
There was just a slight difficulty that we encountered and it was the food served. We
weren’t satisfied with the quantity which made us look for food in faraway places.
Symposium

The National Civil Engineering Symposium is a whole-day event of seminars and

activities attended annually by more than 3,400 students and civil engineering
professionals from all over the country. The National Civil Engineering Symposium is
the basic premise of the National Civil Engineering Summit (NCES). The event is a
series of talks about brand new technologies and breakthroughs in the field of Civil
Engineering. The NCES provides civil engineering students around the Philippines with a
better understanding of their chosen field. The speakers were Engr. Emilio Lolito
Tumbocon who discussed The ASEAN INTEGRATION: Highlighting the Filipino Civil
Engineer’s Expertise, Engr. Eleazar E. Ricorte who tackled The Public- Private
Partnership: Its Primary Role to Philippine Infrastructure Boom, Engr. Roger F. Borja
who discoursed THE SUSTAINABILITY OF PHILIPPINE WATER: A Creation of
Greener and Safer Water Systems, Dr. Renato Solidum who conversed about THE WEST
VALLEY FAULT: How to Safeguard our Country from the Inevitable with an
inspirational talk from Mr. Richard ‘Dick’ Gordon.

National Civil Engineering Quiz

The National Civil Engineering Quiz is a highly acclaimed academic quiz

competition for the brightest Civil Engineering students in the Philippines. Now on its
23rd year, it continues to promote scholastic excellence and competence among the
participating university students. It is the largest student competition for undergraduate
Civil Engineering. Last year’s National CE Quiz played host to 120 teams from over 60
participating institutions from all over the country to showcase their respective schools’
academic prowess. This year, the National Civil Engineering Quiz offers these prizes for
the winners: 60 000 pesos for the champion, 30 000 pesos for the first runner up and 10
000 pesos for the second runner up.

Open Laboratory Tour 2015

The Open Laboratory Tour is a series of instruments presented to the students for
them to know devices for different civil engineering fields such as the transportation and
environmental engineering, water resources engineering, surveying engineering,
geotechnical engineering, and structural engineering.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Overall, I would say that attending the NCES 2015 was a useful and momentous
experience because aside from learning different engineering practical applications, I was
able to visit UP Diliman for the first time. I suggest that students from our department to
attend the annual event. And because I see its relevance, I will try to attend the
conference again in the future in my personal capacity.