TL;DR: The Sanitary Engineer Licensure Exam (SELE) is a PRC exam administered by the Board of Sanitary Engineering under RA 1364. It covers Environmental Engineering, Public Health Engineering, and Wastewater Engineering, with two 2026 administrations — January 26-28 (completed) and August 24-26, 2026. The application fee runs around ₱900, and recent passing rates have ranged from about 52% to 71%.
Introduction
Every building needs its water supply and waste systems designed by someone accountable for getting the sanitation right — that is the job of a licensed Sanitary Engineer. The Sanitary Engineer Licensure Exam (SELE) is a smaller, specialized PRC board exam that many students and even fellow engineers know less about than exams like the CE or ME boards, even though it covers work with direct public health stakes.
This guide covers who administers the SELE, who is eligible to take it, what it costs to apply, what the exam covers, the confirmed 2026 schedule, recent passing rates, and what a Sanitary Engineer license actually authorizes you to sign off on. If you are finishing a BS Sanitary Engineering degree, or a Civil Engineer weighing whether to add this specialization, this walks through the current rules rather than outdated assumptions.
What is the Sanitary Engineer Licensure Exam, and who administers it?
The SELE is the PRC licensure exam that authorizes graduates to practice as Sanitary Engineers in the Philippines, administered by the Professional Regulation Commission through the Board of Sanitary Engineering.
The profession is governed by Republic Act No. 1364, the Sanitary Engineering Law, enacted in 1955 to regulate the practice of sanitary engineering in the country. Under RA 1364, the practice covers sanitary surveys, design, management, and investigation of water purification plants, drainage systems, and sewage treatment plants, plus work on stream pollution control, rural and camp sanitation, food sanitation, and systems to prevent atmospheric pollution. It is one of the smaller PRC-administered licensure exams by examinee volume, but the scope of what a licensed Sanitary Engineer can sign off on touches public health directly.
Who is eligible to take the SELE?
To qualify, you generally need to be a Filipino citizen who has completed a Bachelor of Science in Sanitary Engineering or BS Environmental and Sanitary Engineering from a CHED-recognized institution.
Registered Civil Engineers can also qualify under RA 1364, Section 17, provided they completed the required major subjects in sanitary engineering from a government-recognized institution — a pathway some CE graduates use to add a sanitary engineering license to their credentials rather than completing a full second degree.
How much does the SELE application cost, and what do you need to file?
A complete SELE application costs around ₱900, based on published board exam fee breakdowns, plus a service charge when paying online.
Fees, forms, and filing windows are set and can be revised by PRC — always verify the current amount on your PRC LERIS account or at a PRC office before paying.
Documents typically required for application include:
- PSA Birth Certificate (original and photocopy)
- Transcript of Records (TOR) showing your graduation date and Special Order (S.O.) number
- Valid NBI Clearance (with at least six months of remaining validity from your application date)
- PSA Marriage Certificate (for married female applicants using their married name)
- Certificates of Good Moral Character — typically three, from sources such as your school, barangay, or employer
Applications go through the PRC LERIS online portal (online.prc.gov.ph): select the Sanitary Engineer exam, choose your testing center and date, upload scanned documents, and pay the fee via GCash, Maya, LandBank, or over the counter. You then attend an in-person PRC appointment with your original documents, pay roughly ₱21 for a documentary stamp and ₱30 for a mailing envelope, and receive your Notice of Admission.
What does the SELE cover?
The SELE is organized around three major subject groups drawn from CHED CMO 98, s. 2017: Environmental Engineering, Public Health Engineering, and Wastewater Engineering.
| Subject Group | Core Topics |
|---|---|
| Environmental Engineering | Environmental laws and regulations, ecology, air and water pollution control, environmental impact assessment |
| Public Health Engineering | Water supply systems, water quality management, rural and camp sanitation, food and milk sanitation |
| Wastewater Engineering | Sewerage collection systems, wastewater treatment plant design, solid waste management, drainage design, sanitary plumbing |
Within these three groups, exam questions draw heavily on real design scenarios — sizing a water treatment plant, designing a sewerage network for a subdivision, or evaluating a wastewater treatment process — rather than pure theory recall.
When is the 2026 SELE schedule?
The Sanitary Engineer Licensure Exam has two administrations in 2026, according to the PRC's published schedule of licensure examinations (Resolution No. 2113, s. 2025): January 26-28, 2026 (already completed) and August 24-26, 2026.
This is consistent with the broader 2026 PRC board exam calendar. Based on published application-guide figures, the filing window for the August 2026 administration runs roughly from late May through late July 2026 — treat this as indicative and confirm the exact dates on your PRC LERIS account, since filing periods for lower-volume exams like the SELE can be adjusted.
| Step | Approximate Timing (August 2026 Administration) |
|---|---|
| Filing period opens | Late May 2026 |
| Filing period closes | Late July 2026 |
| Exam dates | August 24-26, 2026 |
| Results released | Recent SELE administrations have released results almost immediately after the exam |
What are recent SELE passing rates?
SELE passing rates swing more widely between administrations than larger exams, because the examinee pool is small — typically only a few hundred takers per sitting.
| Administration | Passed / Took the Exam | Passing Rate |
|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | 174 / 270 | ~64.44% |
| August 2025 | 65 / 125 | ~52.00% |
| February 2025 | 138 / 195 | ~70.77% |
| August 2024 | 105 / 156 | ~67.30% |
| February 2024 | 216 / 300 | ~72.00% |
These figures come from PRC-published results and PRC results-tracking coverage; treat each administration's rate as a single snapshot rather than a stable average, since a shift of even a few dozen examinees moves the percentage noticeably at this exam's volume. Top-performing schools have varied by administration — the University of Southeastern Philippines-Davao City, the University of Baguio, and National University Manila have each posted the highest school passing rate in different recent sittings.
What can a licensed Sanitary Engineer actually do?
A licensed Sanitary Engineer designs, signs, and takes professional responsibility for the plumbing and sanitation systems that keep a building's water supply safe and its waste properly managed — work that sits squarely at the intersection of engineering and public health.
In practice, that includes:
- Building permit sign-off: Local building officials are required to refer sanitary and plumbing permit applications to the local health office, and a Registered Sanitary Engineer must sign the sanitation design before an occupancy permit is issued.
- Water supply and sewerage design: Sizing and designing water distribution systems, sewage collection networks, and drainage systems for buildings, subdivisions, and municipalities.
- Wastewater and solid waste facilities: Designing wastewater treatment plants and solid waste management systems, work that increasingly intersects with environmental compliance requirements.
- Government roles: Some Sanitary Engineer positions sit within the sanitation divisions of provincial, city, or municipal health offices, or with the Department of Health and its regional field offices.
This is a distinct scope from a master plumber's license, which is regulated separately and generally covers standard residential and commercial plumbing installation rather than the broader engineering design of treatment plants, sewerage networks, and environmental sanitation systems.
How to prepare for the SELE
- Anchor your review in CHED CMO 98, s. 2017. The exam syllabus is built directly on this memorandum's subject breakdown, so use it as your master checklist rather than relying solely on review center handouts.
- Practice full design problems, not just formulas. Water treatment plant sizing, sewerage network design, and drainage computations reward the ability to work through a complete design scenario under time pressure.
- Study RA 1364 directly. Questions on the scope of practice and professional regulation draw from the statute's actual language.
- Review environmental law fundamentals, since Environmental Engineering questions increasingly test regulatory and compliance knowledge alongside technical design.
- Because examinee cohorts are small, connect with recent passers or a review group where possible — the exam pool is small enough that recent takers' experience of which topics were emphasized can be a genuinely useful, if informal, guide.
Ready to find the right engineering program or review center? Browse schools or compare programs and review centers across hundreds of Philippine institutions on SchoolFinderPH — start with our best engineering schools guide, or check the full 2026 PRC exam calendar and how long a board exam review typically takes if you're still building your review timeline. If you're weighing a related engineering license, our civil engineering board exam guide covers the CE licensure path that some Sanitary Engineer applicants come from.
Sources
- PRC — Schedule of Licensure Examinations for the Year 2026
- Republic Act No. 1364 — Sanitary Engineering Law (PRC)
- Sanitary Engineer Board Exam Application Guide 2026 — Board Passers Portal
- 2026 PRC Board Exam Schedule — prcboard.com
- PRC — January 2026 Sanitary Engineers Computer-Based Licensure Examination Results
- Performance of Schools: January 2026 Sanitary Engineering Licensure Exam Results — TheSummitExpress
- SELE Results: August 2025 — prcboard.com
- RESULTS: February 2025 Sanitary Engineers CBLE — Rappler
- PRC says 105 passed August 2024 Sanitary Engineer Licensure Exam — Inquirer.net
- Licensure Examination for Sanitary Engineers February 2024 Results — prcboardupdates.com
