UAP Membership is Mandatory
Section 40 of Republic Act 9266 is the provision that makes it mandatory for all registered architects to become a member of the board of architectures's duly accredited professional organization which is currently the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP). I am posting the section verbatim as a point of discussion for everyone, hopefully it will lead to a better understanding of why and how this section came to be:
SEC. 40.Integration of the Architecture Profession. - The Architecture
profession shall be integrated into one (1) national organization which
shall be accredited by the Board, subject to the approval by the
Commission, as the integrated and accredited professional organization of
architects: Provided, however, That such an organization shall be
registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as a non-profit,
non-stock corporation to be governed by by-laws providing for a democratic
election of its officials. An architect duly registered with the Board
shall automatically become a member of the integrated and accredited
professional organization of architects and shall receive the benefits and
privileges provided for in this Act upon payment of the required fees
and dues. Membership in the integrated and accredited professional
organization of architects shall not be a bar to membership in other
associations of architects.
posted by ben tumbling @ 7:44 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
As stated by Section 40 in RA 9266, you are automatically a member of UAP upon registration. However, you will only get membership benefits if you pay. That means you can decide not to pay if you don't want to.
You're also not hindered from joining other architectural organizations outside of UAP.
Seems fair to me.
Still, becoming a member "automatically"? What were they thinking? If a person doesn't pay membership dues, what's the difference in not becoming a member at all? Sure, becoming a member of UAP is good but removing the choice of either becoming one or not is very shaky. Frankly, I think it's just bad.
Personally I think it diminishes the honor of taking part in an organization.
i am trying to understand the motivations of the uap officers (well, those that wrote ra 9266, anyway) why they decided to make membership "mandatory" so to speak. in some ways, it removes the hassles of the new architects to go and register, and of the organization to file paperwork. the list of uap members becomes consolidated with the list of registered architects, and that's less things to think about. their only concern would be the chapter membership, and that's the chapter's problem, right? national uap will have a nice, nifty little list of new members ready come oath taking. but that's just an insignificant by-product of their true motivations (in my opinion, anyway)
i think the uap's fear is our (the new architects) resistance to become part of the organization. from reports of refusal to stand during uap oath taking, i can see why they feel threatened. but they did not really look at the motivations behind our actions. in some ways, their thinking is quite narrow; they see the organization as the end-all and be-all of professional unity and all that. they don't realize our view that the uap is just another three-letter acronym you can attach to your resume (not that it makes quite a difference, mind you) what we want is an organization that WORKS for the good of the SOCIETY as a whole, first and foremost, and for the good of the architect as a secondary reason. and for the good of each individual member as last priority. not the other way around. well, at least, that's what i want.
just to agitate you some more, the UAP is pushing for a rule that will disallow non-UAP members (or non-IAPOA members for that matter) to sign for any plans. so if you're still not a member, you'd better go scrambling to the national headquarters to register, otherwise it's bye-bye time to all your sidelines.
also in this rule, it's not enough that you become an automatic UAP/IAPOA member. you still have to be part of a UAP chapter and be in good standing (meaning you pay your annual dues and you attend at least some of your chapter activities), otherwise the PRC will not renew your registration. some form of "certificate of good standing" will be issued by either your chapter or the national which you will then bring to the PRC.
Fongi, I admire how you give the effort to understand a topic first before commenting instead of just shooting off from emotion. You're a breath of fresh air.
I agree that having a list of all registered by the UAP would be good. That is actually one of the main services of organizations such as the AIA et.al. The reason for this is to provide the public with a means of being able to know, through the organization's databases, if the person they are dealing with is registered as he/she claims to be or simply to help the public look for qualified registered architects in their area.
However, there are other ways to obtain this list of registered architects aside from making UAP membership mandatory.
The PRC is supposed to have this list and I'm sure that just asking for it will be enough to get it.
kb, you posted something "just to agitate (us/him/her/me) some more"? I hope that's not the real reason why you leave posts. We have enough guys here who do that already. hehehe
Kidding aside, what you posted is scary. It would seem that the UAP wants to take some of the functions of the PRC into its own hands.
That's the slippery slope in imposing madatory membership to one organization. It basically opens the door for a monopoly of power by that organization.
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