The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Weng C. Ocfemia
To facilitate faster the renewal of licenses of contractors, the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) has revised the schedule of filing based on the following:
The board revised the filing scheduled after it found out that the schedule of two license number endings with one deadline results in a large number of contractors clustering at each end of the month and to encourage compliance of the schedule, an additional P5,000 processing fee will be assessed on contractors who failed to renew his license on time.
License approved from January to March may file their renewal application in June 1 to 15 while licenses approved from April to June may file their renewal application in June 16 to 30.
If the renewal application is filed after the end of the CFY which is 30 June, an Additional License Fee (ALF) which existed before the APF will still be imposed or a total of P10,000 will be collected on top of the regular renewal fees for each category.
As of 31 December 2014, the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) issued a total of 6,614 contractors’ licenses. Of the total, large-sized (AAA & AA) accounted for 6 percent of the total contracting population. This is followed by medium-sized (A & B) contractors with 34-percent share, while the remaining (C, D, Trade/E) 60 percent remained to be the majority of the licensed contractors.
R.A. 4566 as amended by P.D. No. 1746 provides that no contractor (including sub-contractor and specialty contractor) shall engage in the business of contracting without first having secured a PCAB license to conduct business.
The purpose of the Contractor’s License Law (R.A. 4566) is to ensure the safety of the public so that only qualified and reliable contractors are allowed to undertake construction in the country. The law also aims to promote for the benefit of the public and private sectors and for the national interest, the orderly growth of the contracting sector and the upgrading of construction capability.