THROUGH the passing years, I am astonished at our United Architects of the Philippines –Kuala Lumpur (UAP-KL) Chapter for not only being a unique one-of-a-kind, memorable organization, but it also serves as a vehicle for us to tell our own indelible public-spirited stories.
In addition to contributing individual professional services to prominent architectural firms in Malaysia, UAP-KL members are also empathetic advocates for Community Social Responsibility activities especially amongst our kababayan communities in Kuala Lumpur.
As one knows, community involvement and engagement is one of the key pillars of an organization’s social responsibility and can take on many forms. The purpose – to give back to the community, providing positive social value, and eventually promoting change and progress – hopefully throughout the world.
Past Chapter President Arch. Anthony Mar Darilag thought one great day of sharing his talent with the Filipino community through UAP-KL. From 2014 to 2019, he amazingly spearheaded seven yearly, at times bi-annual, charity tournaments, participated in by an average of 150+ Filipino players, and five major open tournaments entitled “UAP-KL Badminton Super Liga” that attracted not only Filipinos and Malaysians, but also players from Singapore and the Philippines.
Because of all these, word-of-mouth spread within the community like wildfire resulting in an increasing number of Filipino household helpers, waiters, and factory workers wanting to engage in the sport. Arch. Darilag addressed this scenario in his own words: “With joyful verve I conducted training clinics of once-a-week for five weeks free of charge for these kababayans and prepped them to be ready to join the tournaments.”
Now this is where UAP-KL’s charitable heart shows its true form – All proceeds of charity go to various charitable organizations, orphanage centers, assistance to distressed members, and as of late to UAP-KL’s established perennial recipient – the alternative learning center “Stairway to Success” – a member of Unicef’s program of schools for undocumented Filipino and Malaysian children in Sandakan, Sabah.
We architects have an enormous opportunity to make contributions to the community especially with our knack of critical thinking. That opportunity amplifies when it comes to bringing that added bliss to our lesser privileged kababayans who eke out a humble living in a foreign land.
Before UAP-KL’s chartering in 2014, senior Filipino architects who eventually became the founding directors, assisted me in the succeeding tourneys. I named the league “[email protected]” an acronym for Philippine Integrated Games and Amusement. The games are a whole day affair, held every Sunday, run for an average of two months, and participated in by 8-12 teams composed of 15 players each team.
As it happens, there are no entrance fees to the tournament. I, together with a few Malaysian companies, co-sponsor all tournaments. During the 2009 league, we even managed to hand out free lunches and mineral water to participants.
In 2013, wherein Petronas Malaysia was the co-sponsor, UAP-KL posted all of the games on YouTube immediately after each Sunday event and opened a Facebook page where the games’ scoresheets and videos were progressively uploaded as they unfolded. These sites are still up and running and still garnering views and “Likes” as of today.
As tiring as it may seem, anyone might crimp at just the thought of organizing games as it is never easy with all the weeks of planning, management and administration, running logistics, and what have you. But as architects, this is where that expertise of critical-thinking comes in and the rewards are worth the time spent planning.
Badminton winners are awarded medals and trophies, at times a small token of prize money, that are handed out by either the Philippine Ambassador himself or by embassy officials who make it a point to grace the events. As for basketball and volleyball, each player receives a Certificate of Participation with their full appellations while stating their team’s overall standing in the tournament. These official documents are endorsed by the ambassador, the main sponsor’s rep, and by UAP-KL.
During the past quarantine months, UAP-KL’s ardor is strengthened through Archs. Juz Santos and Mildred Lam’s self-initiated “KaLinga 2020” project. The program managed to raise 10,055RM (P120,000.00) from 43 donors and assisted 176 deserving Filipino recipients plus nine other nationalities.
Former chapter presidents, Archs. Santos and Lam worked with the KL Filipino badminton club and a local golf association to gather all the much-needed solicitations. For members who could not assist monetarily, they generously contributed their time assisting in the distribution and spreading the word.
Not a great deal of money but the financial assistance helped them weather the storm and put them back on track until the lockdowns were lifted. It was an act of “Giving a little, changing a lot.” In my book, it was a glimmer of hope for victory that at least enabled the community to turn a page on the exigencies of the pandemic and its sad chapters of our history.
Architects, whose profession has an underlying purpose to improve man-made environment and consequently the people’s quality of life, have a natural predilection to realize those goals achieved only through the actual building of their projects. In a sense, architects can only do ‘good’ or make an ‘impact’ when they get paid for it but that’s not always the case.
With participation of some future UAP-KL members, I initiated the pro bono design and its construction for the renovation of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. This was undertaken way back in 2011 under the term of Ambassador Eduardo J. Malaya and this unprecedented contribution was in fact featured in the April 29, 2019 Build & Design Section of The Manila Times.
I saw this as a window of opportunity to give back to my country and the society that granted me my status as a professional. The resulting new image of the embassy once more reawakened the deserving pride and dignity amongst the entire Filipino community in KL.
There are yet so many other significant community works under the Chapter’s belt –UAP-KL jointly organized the 2014 charity golf tournament which coincided with the 116th Philippine Independence Day celebrations and with proceeds going to the “Stairway to Success” school, or even the very first Filipino Heritage Day held in conjunction with the 2016 Asean Basketball League at Kuala Lumpur’s stadium, co-sponsored and organized through Archs. Bart Vista and Ian Gerapusco. It allowed the Filipino community to watch for free their idol PBA players and some young PBA hopefuls in action.
There definitely are still lots and lots of UAP-KL’s public-spirited activities but too numerous to be told here. After all is said and done, I suppose the message here is the science of generosity – volunteering our time, money, energy, our expertise, and our blessings to assist people with few or no resources or for just simply making others happier and in return helping ourselves be happier too.
As W.T. Purkiser puts it, “Not what we say about our blessings but how we utilize them is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” This is the credo that UAP-KL chapter lives by. This is our story.
Arch. Bart Vista was one of the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Chapter’s founding members and charter directors in its first year of operations.
