PSME September/October 2012 Events

08 October 2012

Since 1998, the third week of October has been celebrated as Mechanical Engineering Week. This is by virtue of Proclamation No. 319 signed by President Cory Aquino in September of that year. This year, the Mechanical Engineering Week shall be from October 15-19, but related activities shall spill over to the following week since the 60^th (Diamond) Annual National Convention shall be done from October 23-26 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. And due to this, I’m inclined to focus on PSME and the ME profession concerns for the next few columns.

 This month will be a very busy one for members of the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers. First, there shall be activities usually done by the various chapters nationwide as part of the celebration of ME Week (e.g., attending flag raising ceremonies done by the LGUs at the start of the week, discussing with the LGU Head/Officers RA 8495, or the ME Law, including the matter of its implementation). Then, in the subsequent week, the expected 2,500 delegates that would come from the 80 chapters located all over the Philippines, and abroad, shall be converging at the SMX Convention Center for the 4 day 60^th NatCon. Here, they can avail of the usual learning and sharing opportunities, get first hand updates on the developments in the “Society” as well as the profession, or catch up with classmates, former workmates, friends and other acquaintances. But probably what is  more important is that they can also participate in the process of determining the focus of the organization for the coming year or so.

In addition, three other distinct co-located activities shall be done in conjunction with the Natcon, namely: a) the 10^th PSME National Board Meeting, b) the 2^nd PSME National Student Conference where about 1,500 attendees from the various ME schools are expected for this 1-1/2 day event, and c) the 2^nd Philippine Machinery Exhibition , or PHILMACH, which will have 160 booths that will showcase (to both PSME members and the general public) tools and equipment related to the following: HVACRe, Green energy Technology, Boiler and Valves, Fire Protection and Safety, Metal Works, Maintenance and Reliability, Process and Packaging, as well as Food and Beverage.

Meanwhile, while anticipating these important events, I would like to share some recent developments (that came out of the 9^th National Board Meeting held last September 29 in Bacolod City) which has relevance to these events.

First is the matter of the nominees to the Board of Mechanical Engineering Examiners. As related in a previous column, the BME Nominating Committee chaired by IPP Rene Florencio submitted already to the PSME national board the list of 15 nominees for the 3 vacant BME positions, and this list, as required by EO 496, has to be sent by the national board (covered by a resolution)  to the PRC. As it is, the list was discussed during the 9^th meeting and it was agreed that a further fine tuning will have to be done on it by the Nominating Committee. It was however also agreed that the final list must be made available by the 10^th National Board Meeting, at the latest, so that it can be presented to the General Assembly for approval (and subsequent transmission to the PRC) during the 60^th NatCon.

Second is the matter of the election of the 2013 PSME National Board to be done also during the 60^th Natcon. As a backgrounder, issues have been raised for years already regarding the current system with respect to its credibility, and susceptibility to manipulation; and together with the complaints are demands to improve or change the system. This demand for change was taken up during last year’s NatCon General Assembly and as a result, the GA overwhelmingly approved the shift to an electronic system of voting. It has, however, been made apparent by the report of the National EVP that the system of election for this year would be the same as with the previous years for the following reasons: a) that the change in the election system can only be done once reflected in the “amended By-Laws” of the organization, which needs approval by the SEC; b) it was established, after a survey of the various chapters, that only roughly 25% of the members have email addresses, and that even a greater percentage does not have updated contact information at all. So, even if we did have the approved “amended By-Laws”, it would be impossible to implement an electronic voting system. Nevertheless, the National Secretariat has started with a drive to build up an information database of the members so that we hopefully will have the needed infrastructure to implement electronic voting once our “amended By-Laws” gets approved.

So given the current situation, PSME is back to square one with respect to this year’s elections for the National Board. However, even at that, I believe that a member can protect his vote if he is willing to be vigilant enough to make sure that it is his vote that gets counted. First of all he has to make sure that he is qualified to vote, which means that he is a member of good standing. Second, he has to get from his chapter president his ballot and make sure he fills up all of the 15 slots. Third, he has to strictly follow the “Rules and Regulations for the 2012 Election” released by the 2012 PSME Comelec and which can be accessed at the PSME Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/psmenow).

Meanwhile, on a rather funny development, and still in relation to the upcoming 2013 PSME National Board elections, it seems that the hand(s) that intend to manipulate has already started to move because someone seems to have made the mistake of sending to me a “listing of preferred candidates of so-and-so”. As per this list the following are to be elected: (for NCR) Aguiluz, Reyes, Paulino, Maglaya, So and Mamawal or Ocampo; (for Luzon North) Yorobe, Nicolas; (for Luzon South) Dadua, Cometa; (for Visayas) Chong, Moncada, Montero; (for Mindanao) Sultan, Aquillera. Well, this is a nice development, because this very list can be used as the measuring stick which will determine whether or not there was manipulation of the elections. More interesting developments in the next article.

Meanwhile, comments/reactions from the readers will be appreciated and can be sent through this writer’s email (sl3.mekaniko@gmail.com) or through this writer’s blog (mekaniko-sl3.blogspot.com).