Civil engineering month celebration concluded with a fulfilled mission
THE month-long observance of civil engineering profession has finally ended with remarkable impact to the local communities of Davao City, especially to the most affected victims of earthquake in nearby provinces.
In Davao City, the celebration started November 4 through a thanks giving mass offered by the Philippine
Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Davao City Chapter, keep up with a motorcade from the Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office XI where a photo exhibit is being demonstrated going to the City Hall of Davao for a courtesy visit to the Honorable City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte.
After the preliminaries, Engr. Arnel L. Villalba, the chapter president of PICE Davao City said the team, in partnership with the PICE National immediately proceeded to the Province of North Cotabato to distribute significant relief assistance to the ill-fated communities of the province affected by the series of earthquake that hits Mindanao. The team brought with them five (5) structural experts from the Local Government Unit of Quezon City requested by PICE National president, Asean Engineer Dr. Erdsan Rene S. Suero, to help the local structural engineers of the province on their rapid assessment on building structures.
On November 6, to provide the local engineers in Davao City with the necessary information how earthquakes would affect the soundness of building structures, Engr. Suero said the institution initiated a free seminar on seismic and rapid assessment on building structures and requested Engr. Ruel B. Ramirez, a renowned structural engineer from Manila to lead the training.
In support to the call of PICE National for a massive structural education campaign, Engr. Villalba said he, with City Engineer Atty. Joseph Dominic S. Felizart and Engr. Cary H. Beatisula, the Managing Structural Engineer of CH Beatisula correspondingly guested at the November 14 edition of Maayong Buntag Mindanao, the early morning talk show of ABS-CBN Davao, to alert the public on how and what to do during earthquakes.
To make the civil engineering month celebration more colorful, the PICE Davao City Chapter went back to North Cotabato November 15 to distribute hygienic kits to the hundreds of families most affected by earthquake. A mangrove planting and coastal clean-up drive at Punta Dumalag was likewise instigated alongside with a sports festival held at Rancho’s Palos Verdes Clubhouse participated not only by colleagues in civil engineering profession but by civil engineering students from all the colleges and universities of the City.
PICE Davao City Chapter culminated the celebration on November 27 by giving a hand full of food supplies and other stuff to the city’s Home for Sick and Malnourished by Missionaries of Charity.
The Civil Engineering Month is celebrated every November 1-30 by virtue of Proclamation No. 439 signed by His Excellency Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III on November 5, 2012 declaring the whole month of November as Civil Engineering Month. (REB)