24/01/2025
SC: Only Registered and Licensed Architects May Sign Architectural Documents |
With the enactment of the Architecture Act, only registered and licensed architects may prepare, sign, and seal architectural documents as listed under Section 302(4)(a), (c), (d), (e), and (f) of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the National Building Code.
Thus ruled the Supreme Court’s Second Division, through Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, granting the consolidated petitions for review on certiorari filed by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the United Architects of the Philippines. The petitions challenged the ruling of the Court of Appeals which had reversed the Regional Trial Court’s decision upholding the validity and constitutionality of Sections 302(3) and 302(4) of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Presidential Decree No. 1096 or the National Building Code of the Philippines.
The Architecture Act of 2002, effective April 10, 2004, emphasized the importance of architects in nation-building and aimed for comprehensive regulation of the registration, licensing, and practice of architecture. The DPWH subsequently amended the Revised Implementing Rules of the National Building Code, specifically introducing Section 302(3) limiting the authority to prepare architectural documents to architects and Section 302(4) detailing what constitutes architectural documents.
This led to a legal challenge by respondents, Leo Cleto Gamolo and the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc., seeking to declare Sections 302(3) and 302(4) void. The Regional Trial Court initially denied the petition, but the Court of Appeals overturned this decision, declaring the contested sections void.
The Court, in resolving conflicting provisions between the Civil Engineering Law (RA 544) and the Architecture Act, determined that the Architecture Act impliedly repealed the Civil Engineering Law concerning the preparation, signing, and sealing of architectural documents by civil engineers. The Court highlighted legislative intent in providing limitations on civil engineers' authority in building construction matters.
Additionally, the Court addressed conflicting versions of the National Building Code and concluded that the published version in the Official Gazette prevails over the copy stored in the National Library. Therefore, only the version in the Official Gazette, which did not include the phrase allowing civil engineers to prepare architectural plans, holds legal effect.
In summary, the Supreme Court ruled that only registered and licensed architects are authorized to prepare, sign, and seal specified architectural documents, while only registered and licensed architects, or interior designers, may prepare, sign, and seal the architectural interior/interior design documents enumerated under Section 302(4)(b) of the same rules, emphasizing the significance of the Architecture Act in regulating the architectural practice and superseding conflicting provisions.
Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/sc-only-registered-and-licensed-architects-may-sign-architectural-documents/. Read the Decision in full at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/200015-205846-department-of-public-works-and-highways-vs-philippine-institute-of-civil-engineers-inc-and-leo-cleto-gamolo-united-architects-of-philippines-vs-philippine-institute-of-civil-engineer/.
