- UNITED ARCHITECTS OF THE PHILIPPINES - PASIG CHAPTER
The chapter was born out of necessity, but its destiny cannot be denied in the annals of UAP history. UAP Pasig Chapter’s historical path started during the conception of the University of Life in Meralco Avenue, Pasig (still a municipality then) in late 1980. The Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS), Rural Bliss, Planning and Design Group (PDG) under Ar. Jaime U. Nierras was tasked by then Deputy Minister Jose Conrado Benitez with the planning of the former St. Martin Technical Institute at the corner of Meralco Avenue and Captain H. P. Javier St. The Special Projects Team headed by Ar. Angelito S. Soriano made the initial study and recommended to the Deputy Minister, through the PDG Head, the proposed University of Life Site Development Plan.
After the approval of the Development Plan by the former Minister of Human Settlements and First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, an architectural firm was chosen to undertake the renovation plans of the existing buildings and other new structures of the project. Environs Systems Group, Inc. (ESGI) headed by Ar. Rodino G. Bernardo, in tandem with the MHS Planning and Design Group, prepared the plans to construction implementation.
However, the UAP National Board headed by its President, the late Ar. Felipe Mendoza, questioned the firm’s architects involved in the project for not being members of any existing chapters of the United Architects of the Philippines. A consensus was arrived at by both groups (MHS-PDG and Environs) to form a new one since there was no existing chapter then representing the municipality of Pasig, instead of joining existing chapters. Ar. Victor Casapao, ESGI (representing the private sector) and Ar. Angelito S. Soriano, MHS-PDG (representing the government), set out to seek the so-called “at-large” architects to help in the formation of a new chapter.
The chapter was immediately swept into the tides of UAP endeavors. The chapter was formally integrated into District 7, composed of Taytay, San Juan-Mandaluyong, Caloocan, and Marikina. UL-Pasig actively participated in all national and district-level undertakings with vigor and enthusiasm. This showed in the active participation of the members in the yearly friendship night contests at the conventions, which added luster to the star of the chapter. This resulted in jointly winning some of the top prizes in the contest for three consecutive years.
One of the most memorable joint efforts of the District was the establishment of a district office spearheaded by the chapter. UL-Pasig Chapter requested the Ministry of Human Settlements, through Deputy Minister Jose Conrado Benitez, for an office space in one of the buildings occupied by the Ministry. This merited the apportionment of space in the Hanston Building rent-free. The District immediately set up committees to undertake the renovation of the allotted space and the furnishing of the office with equipment and furniture. The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
And Philippine history took over. The Ministry of Human Settlements was the first to fall from its pinnacle. The Aquino regime disbanded the organization, it being one of the hallmarks of the Marcos administration. The chapter was the first to suffer, with most of its members looking for new jobs and relocating elsewhere. The officers had a hard time ministering to the chapter, but they plodded on and on. Until only one was left standing to keep the embers afire—Ar. Luis Baldoz. Through his untiring efforts, he kept hope aloft and the fire alight, serving throughout the dark pages of the chapter’s history. Slowly but with grim determination, the chapter again trod the path of history. Parrying all efforts to disband it, a ragtag, never-say-die team of determined members led by Ar. Baldoz valiantly moved on. They produced a newsletter—a first by a chapter—reaching out to the old members, setting up seminars for the required CP units, and actively participating in the activities of the UAP.
The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
And Philippine history took over. The Ministry of Human Settlements was the first to fall from its pinnacle. The Aquino regime disbanded the organization, it being one of the hallmarks of the Marcos administration. The chapter was the first to suffer, with most of its members looking for new jobs and relocating elsewhere. The officers had a hard time ministering to the chapter, but they plodded on and on. Until only one was left standing to keep the embers afire—Ar. Luis Baldoz. Through his untiring efforts, he kept hope aloft and the fire alight, serving throughout the dark pages of the chapter’s history. Slowly but with grim determination, the chapter again trod the path of history. Parrying all efforts to disband it, a ragtag, never-say-die team of determined members led by Ar. Baldoz valiantly moved on. They produced a newsletter—a first by a chapter—reaching out to the old members, setting up seminars for the required CP units, and actively participating in the activities of the UAP.
The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
Slowly, the chapter, now renamed simply UAP Pasig Chapter, emerged like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes. The old stalwarts were joined by new members brimming with unbridled enthusiasm, faith, awareness, and a sense of destiny—the stuff leaders are made of. Yes, the succeeding heads of the chapter were able to blaze the path to greatness and glory and enshrine in every member’s heart an emblem of the chapter—nurtured and mellowed by 25 years of hardships, aged to perfection like a connoisseur’s wine, pliant and supple like the bamboo but never bowing out, a beacon that cannot be snuffed out, forever a stalwart and fountainhead.
The chapter was born out of necessity, but its destiny cannot be denied in the annals of UAP history. UAP Pasig Chapter’s historical path started during the conception of the University of Life in Meralco Avenue, Pasig (still a municipality then) in late 1980. The Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS), Rural Bliss, Planning and Design Group (PDG) under Ar. Jaime U. Nierras was tasked by then Deputy Minister Jose Conrado Benitez with the planning of the former St. Martin Technical Institute at the corner of Meralco Avenue and Captain H. P. Javier St. The Special Projects Team headed by Ar. Angelito S. Soriano made the initial study and recommended to the Deputy Minister, through the PDG Head, the proposed University of Life Site Development Plan.
After the approval of the Development Plan by the former Minister of Human Settlements and First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, an architectural firm was chosen to undertake the renovation plans of the existing buildings and other new structures of the project. Environs Systems Group, Inc. (ESGI) headed by Ar. Rodino G. Bernardo, in tandem with the MHS Planning and Design Group, prepared the plans to construction implementation.
However, the UAP National Board headed by its President, the late Ar. Felipe Mendoza, questioned the firm’s architects involved in the project for not being members of any existing chapters of the United Architects of the Philippines. A consensus was arrived at by both groups (MHS-PDG and Environs) to form a new one since there was no existing chapter then representing the municipality of Pasig, instead of joining existing chapters. Ar. Victor Casapao, ESGI (representing the private sector) and Ar. Angelito S. Soriano, MHS-PDG (representing the government), set out to seek the so-called “at-large” architects to help in the formation of a new chapter.
The chapter was immediately swept into the tides of UAP endeavors. The chapter was formally integrated into District 7, composed of Taytay, San Juan-Mandaluyong, Caloocan, and Marikina. UL-Pasig actively participated in all national and district-level undertakings with vigor and enthusiasm. This showed in the active participation of the members in the yearly friendship night contests at the conventions, which added luster to the star of the chapter. This resulted in jointly winning some of the top prizes in the contest for three consecutive years.
One of the most memorable joint efforts of the District was the establishment of a district office spearheaded by the chapter. UL-Pasig Chapter requested the Ministry of Human Settlements, through Deputy Minister Jose Conrado Benitez, for an office space in one of the buildings occupied by the Ministry. This merited the apportionment of space in the Hanston Building rent-free. The District immediately set up committees to undertake the renovation of the allotted space and the furnishing of the office with equipment and furniture. The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
And Philippine history took over. The Ministry of Human Settlements was the first to fall from its pinnacle. The Aquino regime disbanded the organization, it being one of the hallmarks of the Marcos administration. The chapter was the first to suffer, with most of its members looking for new jobs and relocating elsewhere. The officers had a hard time ministering to the chapter, but they plodded on and on. Until only one was left standing to keep the embers afire—Ar. Luis Baldoz. Through his untiring efforts, he kept hope aloft and the fire alight, serving throughout the dark pages of the chapter’s history. Slowly but with grim determination, the chapter again trod the path of history. Parrying all efforts to disband it, a ragtag, never-say-die team of determined members led by Ar. Baldoz valiantly moved on. They produced a newsletter—a first by a chapter—reaching out to the old members, setting up seminars for the required CP units, and actively participating in the activities of the UAP.
The District Office was inaugurated on the night of February 24, 1986, amidst the brewing EDSA 1 history. The office was complete with a facsimile machine, typewriters, and projectors. It had reception and receiving areas, a conference room, office cubicles, and the district flags all proudly and prominently displayed. The speeches were full of hope, high spirits, and enthusiasm for the bright future of the district and its member chapters. As the members and their guests enjoyed the food and drinks amidst the ambiance of the office, howitzers, tanks, and personnel carriers slowly positioned themselves at the University of Life grounds.
Slowly, the chapter, now renamed simply UAP Pasig Chapter, emerged like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes. The old stalwarts were joined by new members brimming with unbridled enthusiasm, faith, awareness, and a sense of destiny—the stuff leaders are made of. Yes, the succeeding heads of the chapter were able to blaze the path to greatness and glory and enshrine in every member’s heart an emblem of the chapter—nurtured and mellowed by 25 years of hardships, aged to perfection like a connoisseur’s wine, pliant and supple like the bamboo but never bowing out, a beacon that cannot be snuffed out, forever a stalwart and fountainhead.
The UAP Pasig Chapter will always sail on beyond its 25th anniversary, for its fate has been sealed by destiny; now in its remarkable 43rd year, the chapter continues to thrive!
The UAP Pasig Chapter will always sail on beyond its 25th anniversary, for its fate has been sealed by destiny; now in its remarkable 43rd year, the chapter continues to thrive!
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