It appears that Inquirer lifestyle reporter Alex Vergara is under a lot of heat from several architects in the Philippines. After he released an article titled Architectonic debate on the 5th of August, he is now being sued by a joint collaboration of architects for this expose.
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.” [source]
If you read the article, I honestly don’t see any hint of libel. I see it more as journalism at work and Vergara, as a journalist, was the messenger – he got shot down as is the case in these dramatic times. Lest this blog starts to delve into the niche of law and politics, I just have one question: If all that is in question is a license exam, why haven’t these architects in question taken the test? It should be easy for them to pass a license exam given their vast experience already.
On another note, lifestyle writer Bianca has an added view to the matter – why aren’t lifestyle writers taken seriously?
The problem is, despite exposing issues such as that, lifestyle journalists still aren’t taken seriously. When I was in Hong Kong over a month ago, someone told our dinner group, “You guys have it easy in lifestyle. All you have to do is write about yourselves!”
Not all lifestyle journalists should be likened to the Malu Fernandez type. In fact, a lot of them have the caliber of a PCIJ reporter.
Disclaimer: Everything written above are my own opinion and do not reflect that of INQUIRER.net in any way.
4 replies on “Why is Alex Vergara being crucified? And why aren’t lifestyle journalists taken seriously?”
actually, “designers” can’t pass themselves off as Interior Designers either — you need to pass the board and a PRC license to practice Interior Design. Alex Vergara should do a follow up article exposing all the unlicense practicing “designers” as well 😉
[…] Debate? According to Bianca’s post lifestyle journalism and Jayvee’s post Why is Alex Vergara being crucified? And why aren’t lifestyle journalists taken seriously? they see no grounds for libel. And after reading the article. I would agree. So […]
[…] over his words. Whatever you believe, the real question here is: If you’re Alex Vergara, facing a libel lawsuit over your article discussing the legal definition of “Architect” here in the […]
While people vent their ire on the types of Malu Fernandez and Tim Yap, I agree that they should take the better lifestyle writers seriously, especially the likes of, say, Rome Jorge of The Manila Times/Mega/Manual.