MANILA, Philippines - What's in a title? Who has the right to call himself an architect or to offer his services as one for a fee?

According to the Professional Regulatory Board of Architecture (PRBoA), a person can only assume the title "architect" and use it in the pursuit of his or her livelihood if he or she has passed the state-sanctioned board exam for architects.

Under chairman Armando Alli, PRBoA twice called Inquirer's attention for inadvertently identifying Ed Calma and Anton R. Mendoza as architects in two separate stories.

Ed Calma, a 2003 TOYM awardee, is listed as the Design Principal of his father's architectural firm Lor Calma Design & Associates. His CV states that he earned his undergraduate degree in Architecture at the Pratt Institute and his graduate degree in Advanced Architectural Design at Columbia University in New York.

Although most people, including a number of lifestyle journalists familiar with their works, assume that Calma and Mendoza are licensed and registered architects in the Philippines, it turns out they are not.

As such, says Alli, they have no right to be called architects. Nor can they pass themselves off as architects under such a benign job description as "designer."

"It's called solicitation-once you project yourself as an architect or offer yourself as capable of performing the work of an architect," Alli explains. "Such a practice is prohibited under the law."

Apart from giving media practitioners reason to pause and verify their sources' claims, the issue is bigger than it seems since it also concerns would-be Filipino architects studying abroad, as well as foreign architects hired by prominent families and multinational companies to do a number of projects here either as consultants or "architects-of-record."

How does the board deal with such individuals and situations without appearing biased against, say, Calma, who, apart from having the advantage of working for one of the country's best architectural firms, also studied architecture abroad?

What does it take to be able to legally practice architecture in the Philippines? Won't education in the best schools abroad as well as an impressive body of work suffice, or make up for a person's inability to take the board exam here?

For that matter, what's the scope of a licensed and registered architect's responsibility? How liable is he every time he signs and gives his seal of approval on projects conceptualized or rendered by an unlicensed and unregistered individual?

Even if they hire an architect to go over and approve their plans, are homeowners guilty of malpractice and solicitation when they implement home-improvement projects based on their own designs?

If Alli is to be believed, PRBoA isn't any stricter or less reasonable than its counterparts tasked to oversee other professions. Nor is it, he says, zeroing in on certain individuals because of pressure from members of the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP), a private organization composed of practicing architects.

"We're not mandated to protect and promote the livelihood of architects," says Alli, who, like Marietta Segovia and Angeline Chua Chiaco, two of his colleagues on the board, is a practicing architect. "That's the job of the private sector. We're basically here to see and ensure that the law is followed.

Proper practice

PRBoA is one of 44 boards under the Professional Regulation Commission. On top of its administrative functions such as giving exams and issuing licenses, the board is tasked to regulate and oversee the proper practice of architecture among its licensed and registered members nationwide.

Calma, allegedly upon his lawyer's instructions, declined to comment on what he described as a "poorly conceived" law. He said, via a series of text messages, that he didn't want to give certain UAP members an opportunity to get "elected" at his expense.

"I don't want to give them a media platform to rant about their malicious interpretation of the law," Calma wrote. "I would rather clear my case in court."

In a phone call he made several months ago to this reporter, Calma attributed the board's renewed zeal to stop creative individuals like himself from earning a living to sheer "crab mentality" among certain UAP members.

When projects are hard to come by, and when even civil engineers dabble in architecture (again one of many illegal acts PRBoA is currently addressing), can you blame legitimate architects from complaining?

But it's also easy to suspect jealousy because Calma does get the choicest projects, including of late the houses Josephine del Gallego Knox in Rockwell and in Punta Fuego and Wyn Wyn Ong in Makati. He also designed the recently inaugurated De La Salle-College of St. Benilde School of Design and Arts in Manila. These happen to be high-profile works that have generated tremendous media exposure.

Calma's clients, with the exception of Knox, declined to give any official statement on the issue.

"Ed respected and understood my vision and improved on it," Knox said via e-mail. "He's a dream architect for a client with my strengths and weaknesses."

Having lived in another country for so long, Knox said she was unaware that there was a law requiring architects to be licensed and registered. To her credit, upon learning of it, Knox was quick to acknowledge that "no one is above the law."

"Ed was practicing within the guidelines of the law," she insisted. "If he wants to officially be the architect-of-record and sign all the documents, then he will have to take the exams and pass with flying colors."

Again via text message, Calma pointed to foreign architects designing big projects here with local and established designers signing for them. "So, I'm no different from them since my dad is the one signing and I work under him and the company he [has] built for almost 45 years," he wrote.

On the other hand, despite being regularly described by society columnist and good friend Maurice Arcache as a "super architect," Mendoza denied, also via a text message, having misrepresented himself.

Mendoza's clients include such A-listers as Sen. Loren Legarda, Manny V. Pangilinan, Irene Martel Francisco, Fred Uytengsu and Joey Concepcion

Legarda had this to say: "I hired ARM architects with Mike Soriquez as architect and Anton (Mendoza) as interior designer. Anton is a gifted artist and a very professional worker. We have been high-school friends."

The law

Alli denies having any particular bias against media-savvy individuals like Calma and Mendoza. "I've never even met Calma," he says. "What we're trying to ensure is that people uphold the law."

The law in question is Republic Act 9266 or the Architecture Act of 2004, which Alli and colleagues helped draft.

RA 9266, which passed through two Congresses, took effect three years ago, after it was signed by President Macapagal-Arroyo. It has been described by its authors as a "more responsive and comprehensive" act compared to RA 545, the law it replaced.

In essence, the act stipulates that only individuals who passed the architecture board exam given by the PRC, and have secured the necessary licenses and registrations, have the right to call themselves architects and engage in the practice of the profession.

The law doesn't recognize or is silent on the status of individuals who studied and took similar licensure exams abroad, Alli says. Nor does it endorse a designer's works, no matter how outstanding, as a way of compensating for him not to take the board.

Alli adds that it's unlawful for non-architects to practice as architects under such titles as "designer" or "space planner."

But a practicing architect, who requested not to be identified, thought differently: "I don't know of a law that prohibits people being described as designers especially if they are merely mentioned in publications."

Calma may have a number of sympathizers even among his peers, but not a few of them want to see him face the music. After all, it was the UAP that brought the matter of his and Mendoza's alleged misrepresentation to the board's attention.

The list, says Alli, also involves 20 or so other prominent designers "who are regularly featured in newspapers," including Joey Yupangco, Camilo Vasquez and hairdresser-turned-furniture designer Budji Layug.

Of course, one can claim to be the "architect" of an ingenious plan, system or device without breaking the law, but the problem begins once one does the actual work of a licensed and registered architect.

Private individuals who design their own homes and have their plans executed and signed later by an architect have nothing to fear (apart from the soundness of their ideas), says Alli. But once these individuals start designing for others for a fee, then they better watch out since they're already in clear violation of the law.

According to Alli, those who did not take the board exams like Calma and Mendoza are technically beyond the board's jurisdiction. But the board can apply the squeeze on architects who have signed and affixed their seals on their behalf.

Aiding and abetting

"These architects are guilty of violating the law by aiding and abetting a non-practitioner. By this mere act, they stand to lose their licenses," Alli warns.

For their part, unlicensed and unregistered "architects" are also engaging in criminal acts, says Alli. The board's hands may be tied in acting directly against them, but it can endorse their prosecution to the Department of Justice.

"The complainant need not be an architect," says Alli. "He or she can be anybody. If the evidence against the [illegal practitioners] is strong, we can take the case to the DOJ."

It is also not a mere question of whether or not a building is structurally sound. Since it takes a team, including an army of civil and structural engineers, to build one, structures designed by an illegal practitioner have a fairly good chance of standing the test of time.

"The building may appear like it was designed by a professional since professionals actually assumed the liability and responsibility for him," says Alli. "But we go back to the issue of the person (illegal practitioner) projecting himself as the author of a certain work. Based on the law, he may not openly claim that it's his work."

What about foreign architects-including former Filipino citizens-working either as consultants or principals behind certain projects here?

Foreigners will have to secure permits from the PRC, the Department of Labor and the Department of Foreign Affairs to practice in the Philippines for a limited period of time only. But before they're given such permits, there has to be some form of "reciprocity" between the Philippines and the countries they come from.

"Filipino architects should be accorded the same treatment if they go to these countries to lend their expertise there," said Alli. "An accreditation system is now in place among most countries that comprise the Asean and Apec."

Filipinos who passed the board here before becoming citizens of other countries can again practice in the Philippines upon their return after securing a special permit. Their licenses and registrations, says Alli, are still recognized despite the change in their citizenships.

Meanwhile, Filipinos may choose to study architecture abroad but if they plan to practice here, they should be aware of the differences in the way the discipline is taught here compared to, say, in the US.

While American architectural schools are more focused on concepts and practical ways to program spaces and erect buildings, says Alli, their counterparts in the Philippines lean more toward theories, mathematical computations and a fair share of structural engineering.

At first blush, the American approach may seem the wiser, more practical one, but if US-educated Filipinos plan to practice architecture here, they should retool their training and do a thorough review if they are to successfully hurdle the rather difficult board exams.

Apart from the different sets of standards prevailing in the two countries, buildings in the tropics are designed and constructed differently from those built in temperate countries.

The mortality rate for those taking the architectural board exams, notes Alli, is one of the highest, ranging from 49 to 68 percent over the last five years. "Over the past 57 years, only an average of 400 examinees have passed the board."

Alli refrains from speculating, but this reality may be giving Filipinos who studied architecture abroad second thoughts about taking the board here. In a society that still places a premium on reputation, it's no joke for a celebrated designer to lose face for failing to pass a standardized, government-issued test.

by Alex Vergara
Inquirer.net