PIMENTEL DEPLORES THREE-YEAR DELAY
IN IMPLEMENTING ARCHITECTURE LAW

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) has deplored the continued delay in the implementation of the Architecture Act which was enacted in 2004 as he urged leaders of the architecture profession in the country to take the appropriate steps to settle the conflict that is impeding the enforcement of the law.

Unless the Architecture Act is implemented, Pimentel said there will be no improvement in the building environment of the nation and the people will keep on putting on structures helter-skelter without any serious attempt at beautifying the structures that are being constructed.

He said it is time that Filipino architects are encouraged to design buildings and structures "from a macro-perspective as in town planning to the micro-level of objective of construction details."

"I would like to see the Filipino spirit captured in the structures of steel and wood that our architects could conceive of in doing urban planning or landscape architecture and even in furniture making," Pimentel said at the 5th anniversary celebration of the Architecture Advocacy International Foundation, Inc. in Makati City.

"The only way to do this is to insist that Republic Act 9266, the Architecture Act of 2004 be implemented now."

The senator from Mindanao noted that there are man-made obstacles to the full implementation of the law mainly coming from engineers who want to hog the construction works especially in local government territories even if the law says that plans of the works must bear the approval of architects.

He said that in all honesty, he failed to see the validity of the position of these engineers. He said the only argument that they can raise is that as engineers for a long time they have been the planner and the implementor of government projects.

Eve if the disgruntled architects are already at the end of their patience and are probably preparing to take the legal route, Pimentel advised them to try one more time to get the officials who can settle the matter out of court and to mediate the problem.

"It is always best to go to the route of peaceful negotiation when you can avoid having to go to the courts to vindicate your rights," he said.

But if such course of action will fail to settle the conflict, Pimentel said the architects can do either of two things:

1. To sue before the Sandiganbayan the persons responsible for blocking the implementation of the Architecture Act and the local government officials who are abetting them for breach of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. 2. To compel whoever is responsible for blocking the implementation of the law by filing a proper case with the Regional Trial Court or possibly with the Supreme Court.