UNITED ARCHITECTS OF THE PHILIPPINES ASIA PACIFIC COUNCIL APC Journal Final | Page 5

APC JOURNAL | Volume 1 2018 edition
President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree
223, creating the Professional Regulation Commission
(PRC) regulating all professions and accrediting only one
organization to represent each profession.
The Story of UAP
During the Spanish era there were no schools of Architecture
in the Philippines. The first Filipino recorded architect was
Felix Roxas y Arroyo, born circa 1820 in Manila, studied
in Spain and stayed for many years in England and
France. Previous to this, a Filipino could aspire to erect
an architectural structure through the help of a Maestro
de Obras or master builder. The first formal school for
master builders was opened only during the last decade
of the 19th century. On 14 September 1902, many of the
graduates of this school joined the civil engineers and
surveyors in the country and founded the first professional
organization of architects and allied professionals ~ the
Academia de Arquitectura y Aguimensura de Filipinos
(AAAF). It maintained direct consultation with the
American Institute of Architects (AIA). A year after, its name
was changed to Academia de Inginieria, Arquitectura y
Agrimensura de Filipinas (AIAAF). In 1904 it founded the
first school of Architecture in the Philippines, the Escuela de
Ingenieria y Arquitectura, which offered five-year courses
in Architecture and Civil Engineering.
The United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) was born
on December 12, 1974 out of the noble vision of unifying
the three (3) existing architectural associations at that
time - the Philippines Institute of Architects (PIA), the
League of Philippine Architects (LPA) and the Association
of Philippine Government Architects (APGA). Through
the concerted efforts of the officers and members of the
three organizations, the vision officially materialized on
March 26, 1975, where the UAP was registered with the
Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On May 12, 1975, the UAP was granted Certificate No.
001, the first professional organization to be accredited
by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). The
PRC is the central agency of the Philippine Government
charged with the licensing and regulation of professionals
and the professions, as well as the Accredited Professional
Organizations (APOs).
Since its registration, UAP has received many awards,
including the highly-acclaimed PRC’s Most Outstanding
Accredited Professional Organization. To date, it is still the
first and only APO to win the award five times in the Award’s
nineteen-year history. These were in years 2002, 2007 and
2008, 2011 and 2014. The award is presented annually to
recognize the achievements, services and commitments of
the APO to the profession. UAP bested forty five (45) other
professional organizations, through 12 stringent criteria
set for the award.
In 1911, the AIAAF was dissolved when the civil engineers
withdrew to form their own professional organization,
but not before it has struggled for the passage of an
Engineers and Architects Law. In 1921, the Philippine
National Assembly Act No. 2985 passed, the first enabling
law for the practice of the professions of engineering and
architecture, defined the unique and separate identities of
the two professions.
The profession of Architecture in the Philippines was
given its first separate statute on 17 June 1950 with the
enactment of Republic Act 545, “An Act to Regulate the
Practice of Architecture in the Philippines.”
From the early 1930’s to late 1950’s, associations of
architects were founded, but only three survived until the
early 1970’s ~ the Association of Philippine Government
Architects (APGA), League of Philippine Architects (LPA),
and the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA). In June 1973,
UNITED ARCHITECTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
5