AR 428/Regular Architectural Practice

(Midterm Grading)
Lecture 9
Source:
The 25 Years of the UAP, Silver Anniversary coffee table book of United Architects of the Philippines

BEGINNING OF ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE IN THE PHILIPPINES

and HISTORY OF THE UNITED ARCHITECTS OF THE PHILIPPINES

There were no school of architecture in the country during the Spanish era

Felix Arroyo Roxas

o The first Filipino architect of record
o Born circa 1820 in Binondo, Manila
o Studied in Spain and stayed in England and France for many years before returning to the
Philippines in 1854

Escuela Practica de Profesional de Artes y Oficios de Manila (1890)

o The first school for master builders founded by he Spanish government in 1890

Liceo de Manila (1900)

o The second school for master builders
o Founded by Leon Ma. Guerrero
o It formalized and offered for the first time the academic title of Maestro de Obra

The turn of the century brought a drastic change in culture in the Philippines
o In contrast to the previous Spanish era, the new American colonizers followed a policy of
benevolent assimilation that focused on education, health, free enterprise and governance

Academia de Arquitectura y Agrimensura de Filipinas (AAAF)

o The first professional organization of architects and allied profession (engineers and surveyors)
o Founded on September 14, 1902
o A year after its founding, the academy changed its name to Academia de Ingenieria, Arquitectura y
Agrimensura de Filipinas (AIAAF)

In 1904 AIAAF founded the first school of architecture in the Philippinesthe Escuela de Ingenieria y
Arquitectura
o The Escuela offered five-year courses in architecture and civil engineering, and was attached to the
Liceo de Manila
o The Escuela closed in 1905 but reopened in 1908 offering three-year courses in architecture, civil
and electrical engineering; but ceased to operate in 1912 for good

Before it faced disintegration in 1911, AIAAF struggled for the passage of an Engineers and Architects Law
that was only enacted later in 1921, by the Philippine National Assembly as Act No. 2985,
o The AIAAF became the seedbed of professional vigilance and advocacy that would inspire its
historical successors
o Act No. 2985, the first enabling law for the practice of the professions of engineering and
architecture was a historical milestone
1. The Act was the first expression in law of the effort to define the unique and separate
identities of the two professions, with the creation of separate Board of Examiners for
each.
2. The first batch of Filipino architects was registered on the basis of this Act.
3. And for the first time, the locally trained Filipino Maestros de Obras were given recognition
and credence when they were invited to also register as architects
4. The first registered architect in the Philippines, Tomas Bautista Mapua, though a holder of
a bachelors degree in architecture obtained from the Cornell University in 1911, was
initially a Maestro de Obra.

American systems continued to flow in and influence even training in architecture

o Schools of architecture patterned after American academic lines were established.
1. The first, Mapua Institute of Technology was founded in 1925

1
 2. The second, an architectural school at the University of Santo Tomas, opened in 1930
3. Adamson University established one as well in 1941

The 1930s would be remembered for the vigorous architectural expressions and was the cradle of the birth
in the country of the first professional association composed purely of architectsthe Philippine Architects
Society (PAS), 1933

Aware of the growing number of practitioners necessitated a body of regulations to established and enforce
ethical and technical standards, the PAS adopted:
o Constitution and Bylaws,
o Canon of Ethics of the Society,
o Rules of Charges and Professional Fees
o It also sought the passage of law to protect the profession

After the liberation of Manila in 1945, PAS became the first recognized post war professional society

On September 2, 1945, PAS renamed itself the Philippine Institute of Architects and Planners (PIAP) and
later adopted the name Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA)

The 1950s was an eventful decade for all architects in the country

The good news for everyone was the passage on June 17, 1950, of the Republic Act 545An Act to
Regulate the Practice of Architecture in the Philippines
o Other good news soon began breaking out:
Projects to rebuild the country from the ashes of war and replace the homes, edifices and
infrastructures that had been razed to the ground.

The bad news, however, was the failure of the architects to resolve their differences

The construction of the Veterans Memorial Hospital raised issuesthe mechanics of collaborative work
among private architects contracted for a government projectso fiery that some architects under the aegis
of the Philippine Institute of Architects resigned and formed a breakaway groupthe League of Philippine
Architects (LPA)

The schism gave rise to two architects organizations vying for the membership of the 350 registered
architects in the Philippines at that time.

In 1958, a third group of architects clamored for its own identity, architects in the government service
organized their own associationthe Association of Philippine Government Architects (APGA)

In addition to the three separate national organizations, there existed independently organized, local
professional associations in different parts of the Philippines

There was a keenly felt need for some structure or mechanism to provide unity and concerted action in the
face of common problems and difficultiesone such unresolved situation was the final version of the
Architects National Code

In 1971, when there were about 3,300 registered architects in the Philippines, about 40 percent was not
affiliated with any of the three national organizations

This meant PIA, LPA and APGA had yet to vie one another in winning the affiliation of about 1,320
architects at large

When there was a clash of opinions on matters affecting the profession, Philippine government authorities
could not be sure which voice was speaking for the majority

The three major organizations tried their best to bring about their desire for a possible union but achieved no
significant breakthrough.

Again and again, merger talks between their presidents were renewed: in 1962, 1966, 1969, 1971 and finally
in 1973

2
 For quite some time, the reality of a merger remained a misty vision.

In 1973, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 223, creating the Professional Regulation
Commission (PRC)
o Among is other mandated tasks was to accredit for each profession in the country only one
representative professional association.

At stake was official government support for whichever organization would be accredited
o PIA, LPA and APGA conceded that none of their organizations, standing alone, had a clear and
authoritative claim to represent the profession
o All three organizations realized that they could immediately secure accreditation for all of their
members only through integration, and to affirm its promise to the profession:
A professional organization whose members would constitute a clear majority of
registered architects
A membership proportionately distributed throughout the country, representing architects
of all social, economic, educational, political, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds
thus a membership of national scale, composition and character
A truly representative and responsive professional organization able to address, promptly
and authoritatively, all problems concerning the profession

Recognizing the possibilities now within their reach, the organizations each appointed in May 1973 three
representatives to form a Panel of Negotiators:
o From the PIA: Ariston R. Nakpil, Otilio A Arellano and Carmencita L. Rosales
o From the LPA: Edilberto F. Florentino, Ricardo R. Poblete and Luis G. Guiang
o From the APGA: Deogracias P. Atienza. Alfredo T. Tungpalan and Benjamin G. Meamo

To prepare the members of the profession for the proposed integration, a joint PIA-LPA-APGA fellowship
dubbed Salo-Salo, was held on July 13, 1973 in Makati

On September 4, 1973 the Panel signed a landmark document in the history of Philippine architecture: the
Joint Communique on Integration

On December 10, 1973, PIA, LPA and APGA passed the Joint Board Resolution on Integration, creating a
15-man Ad Hoc Commission empowered to implement the terms of integration and to prepare the
constitution and bylaws of the proposed new organization.

The Joint Board Resolution on Integration was ratified in a joint general assembly on December 16, 1973

A Committee on Organizational Name constituted on June 8, 1974 and was tasked to submit to the Ad Hoc
Commission a list of names from which one may be chosen

The name NIPANational Institute of Pilipino Architectswas a favorite

In the end, the name UAPUnited Architects of the Philippineswas chosen because it directly expressed
the central concept on which the organization was founded: Unity

After one year, the Ad Hoc Commission completed its tasks, and the Boards of all three organizations
unanimously approved the Constitution and By-Laws of the new UAP on December 12, 1974

On March 26, 1975, it received Certificate of Accreditation No. 001 from the Professional Regulation
Commission officially confirming UAP as the only duly accredited bona fide professional organization of
architects in the Philippines.