REPUBLIC ACT

NO. 4566
T H E P H I L I P P I N E L I C E N S I N G BOA R D F O R C O N T RAC T O R S AC T

Presented By:

GLOBEN SAM P. BUDONG

MARK JOSEPH CABALONGA
 • To regulate and
licensed contractors
• To ensure the safety of
OBJECTIVES
the public
OF RA 4566 • The law also aims to
promote for the benefit
of the public and
private sectors
AN ACT CREATING THE PHILIPPINE LICENSING
BOARD FOR CONTRACTORS, PRESCRIBING ITS
POWERS, DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS, PROVIDING
FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Title of Act.
This Act shall be known as the "Contractors' License Law."
 ARTICLE I
Administration
Composition of the Board. To carry out the purpose of this Act, there is hereby created
a "Philippine Licensing Board for Contractors", under the office of the Board of
Examiners, hereinafter referred to as the Board, consisting of a Chairman and two other
members who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, with the consent of
the Commission on Appointments.

Power and Duties of the Board. The Board is vested with authority to issue, suspend
and revoke licenses of contractors, to investigate such violations of this Act and the
regulations thereunder as may come to its knowledge
 ARTICLE II
Application of the Act
Definition of Terms.
a) "Persons" include an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association or other
organization, or any combination of any thereof.

b) "Contractor" is deemed synonymous with the term "builder" and, hence, any person
who purports to have the capacity to undertake through others, construct, alter, repair, add
to, subtract from, improve, move, wreck or demolish any building, highway, road,
railroad, excavation or other structure, project, development or improvement, or to do
any part thereof, including the erection of scaffolding or other structures or works in
connection therewith.
 ARTICLE II
Application of the Act
c) A "general engineering contractor" is a person whose principal contracting business is in connection with
fixed works requiring specialized engineering knowledge and skill, including the following divisions or subjects:
irrigation, drainage, water power, water supply, flood control, inland waterways, harbors, docks and wharves,
shipyards and ports, dams, hydroelectric projects, levees, river control and reclamation works, railroads, highways,
streets and roads, tunnels, airports and airways, waste reduction plants, bridges, overpasses, underpasses and other
similar works, pipelines and other system for the transmission of petroleum and other liquid or gaseous substances,
land leveling and earth moving projects, excavating, grading, trenching, paving and surfacing work.

d) A "general building contractor" is a person whose principal contracting business is in connection with any
structure built, being built, or to be built, for the support, shelter and enclosure of persons, animals, chattels or
movable property of any kind, requiring in its construction the use of more than two unrelated building trades or
crafts, or to do or superintend the whole or any part thereof.
 ARTICLE II
Application of the Act
Such structure includes sewers and sewerage disposal plants and systems, parks, playgrounds
and other recreational works, refineries, chemical plants, and similar industrial plants
requiring specialized engineering knowledge and skill, powerhouse, power plants and other
utility plants and installations mines and metallurgical plants, cement and concrete works in
connection with the abovementioned fixed works.

e) A "specialty contractor" is a person whose operations pertain to the performance of

construction work requiring special skill and whose principal contracting business involves the
use of specialized building trades or crafts.
Architects and engineers. This Act shall not apply to a registered civil engineer or a licensed
architect acting solely in his professional capacity.
 ARTICLE III
Classifications
Classification. For the purpose of classification, the contracting business includes any or all of the following
branches.
a) General engineering contracting;
b) General building contracting; and
c) Specialty contracting.
Power to classify and limit operations. The Board may adopt reasonably necessary rules and regulations to effect
the classification of contractors in a manner consistent with established usage and procedure as found in the
construction business, and may limit the field and scope of the operations of a licensed contractor to those in which
he is classified to engage

Incidental work. Nothing in this Act shall prohibit a specialty contractor from taking and executing a contract
involving the use of two or more crafts or trades, if the performance of the work in such crafts or trades, other
than in which he is licensed, is only incidental or supplemental to the performance of work in the said craft or
trade for which he is licensed.
 ARTICLE IV
Licensing
Examinations required. In accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by it, the Board may
investigate, classify and qualify applicants for contractors' licenses by written or oral examination, or both.

Qualifications of applicants for contractors' licenses. The Board shall require an applicant to show at least two
years of experience in the construction industry, and knowledge of the building, safety, health and lien laws of the
Republic of the Philippines and the rudimentary administrative principles of the contracting business as the Board
deems necessary for the safety of the contracting business of the pubic.

Purpose of this section:

A partneship, corporation, or any organization qualify through its responsible managing officer
1. To make technical & administrative decisions
2. To hire, promote, transfer, lay off, discipline or discharge employees
 ARTICLE IV
Licensing
Notice of disassociation required. If any individual who has been denied/revoked/suspended a license or has
filed for the restoration of his license or has filed for the restoration of his license, shall notify the board in
writing 10 days, with such notice may entitle the licensed period as determined by the rules prescribed by the
Board.

Failure to notify in case of disassociation. His license shall be ipso facto suspended. Such license may be
restored upon filing of an affidavit, executed by a licensee or duly authorized responsible managing officer of
the licentiate firm, with the board has been replaced by another individual who’s qualified, or has not been
connected with a licensee whose license has been suspended due to lack of good character.
 ARTICLE V
Records
Publication of list. The Board shall publish, at least once a year in a newspaper of
general circulation, a list of the names and addresses of contractors, registered under this
Act and of the licenses issued, suspend or revoked, and such further information with
respect to this Act and its administration that it deems proper.

Changes. All licenses shall report to the Board all changes of personnel, name, style or
addresses recorded under this Act within thirty days after the changes are made.
 ARTICLE VI
Disciplinary Action
Causes for disciplinary action. The following shall constitute causes for disciplinary action:

a) Willful and deliberate abandonment without lawful and/or just excuse of any construction
project or operation engaged in or undertaken by the licensee as a contractor;
b) Willful material and substantial departure from or disregard of plans and/or
specifications in any material respect, and prejudicial to another without consent of the
owner or the person entitled to have the particular construction project or operation
completed in accordance with such plans and/or specifications or their duly authorized
representations;
c) Willful misrepresentation of a material and substantial fact by an applicant in obtaining a
license;
 ARTICLE VI
Disciplinary Action
d) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to evade the provisions of this Act, or knowingly
combining or conspiring with an unlicensed person, or allowing one's license to be used by
an unlicensed person, or acting as agent or partner, or associate, or otherwise of an
unlicensed person with the intent to evade the provisions of this Act.
e) Failure to comply the provisions of this Act;
f) The doing of any willful or fraudulent act by the licensee as a consequence of which
another is injured or damaged;
g) The participation by a licensee in the performance by any partnership, corporation, firm,
or association of which he is a responsible managing partner, employee or officer, of any
act or omission constituting a cause for disciplinary action under this Act.
 ARTICLE VII
Disciplinary Proceedings
Prescription. All accusations or charges against licensees shall be filed within one year after
the act or omission alleged as the ground therefor, except that with respect to an accusation
alleging a violation of subsection (c) of section twenty-eight the accusation may be filed
within two years after the discovery by the Board of the alleged facts constituting the fraud
or misrepresentation.
Jurisdiction. The lapsing or suspension of a license by operation of law, by order or
decision of the Board or other competent authority, or the voluntary surrender of a license
shall not deprive the Board of jurisdiction to proceed with any investigation of or action or
disciplinary proceedings against such license, or to render a decision suspending or revoking
it.
 ARTICLE VIII
Enforcement and Penalties
Enforcement by officers of the law. It shall be the duty of all duly constituted law
enforcement officers of the national, provincial, city and municipal government or any
political subdivisions thereof, to enforce the provisions of this Act and report to the Board
any violation of the same.

Enforcement by the Board. Should any contractor not licensed by the Board engage on
attempt to engage in the business of contracting, the Board shall have the right to institute the
proper action in court and secure a writ of injunction without bond, restraining the said
contractor.
 ARTICLE VIII
Enforcement and Penalties
Penalties. Any contractor who, for a price, commission, fee or wage, submits or attempts to
submit a bid to construct, or contracts to or undertakes to construct, or assumes charge in a
supervisory capacity of a construction work within the purview of this Act, without first
securing a license to engage in the business of contracting in this country; or who shall
present or file the license certificate of another, give false evidence of any kind to the Board,
or any member thereof in obtaining a certificate or license, impersonate another, or use an
expired or revoked certificate, or license, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and shall,
upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than five hundred pesos but not more
than five thousand pesos.
 ARTICLE IX
Miscellaneous Provisions
License required in biddings. All architects and engineers preparing plans and specifications
for work to be contracted in the Philippines shall include in their invitation to bidders and in
their specifications a copy of this Act, or such portions thereof as are deemed necessary to
convey to the invited bidder, whether he is a resident of the Philippines or not, the information
that it will be necessary for him to have a license before his bid is considered.

Joint licenses. It is unlawful for any two or more licensees, each of whom has been issued a
license to engage separately in the capacity of a contractor, to jointly submit a bid or otherwise
act in the capacity of a contractor without first having secured an additional license for acting
in the capacity of such a joint venture or combination in accordance with the provisions of this
Act as provided for an individual, partnership or corporation.
 ARTICLE X
Fees
Fee. The amount of fees prescribed by this Act shall be as follows:

(a) Fifty pesos for an original license;

(b) Sixty pesos for examination of an applicant;

(c) Fifty pesos for an annual renewal.

 ARTICLE XI
Renewal of Licenses
Renewal. A license may be renewed by the filing of a renewal application with the registrar
not later than June thirtieth of each fiscal year, accompanied by the annual renewal fee. A
license renewed thereafter shall be subject to an additional fee of Twenty Pesos.

Non-renewal of licenses. No license which has been under suspension for more than a
year immediately preceding the filing of an application for renewal shall be renewed.
 ARTICLE XII
Special Provisions
Separability Clause. If any provisions of this Act is held unconstitutional, the other
provisions shall not be affected thereby.

Repeal. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

Effectivity. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. Approved June 19,
1965.
Thank you