CANCHELA, CESAR V.
APEC Registration No.: PH00013
Date Conferred: 2008-04-25
CESAR V. CANCHELA, a Fellow (1975) and the 4th LIKHA AWARDEE (1995), is an active participant and contributor in the great effort and process to unify all architects in the Philippines. He contributed much to the profession when he served as a member of the 15-man Ad Hoc Commission on Integration, and witnessed the birth of the accredited professional organization, the United Architects of the Philippines. He demonstrated his vision, leadership and unrelenting vigor and zeal especially when he served, in an unprecedented situation, in simultaneous positions as the Chairman of the Board of Architecture (government post) and as the 7th UAP President (1985-1986).
His term of leadership saw the implementation of FOB-UAP Scholarship in Architecture; the initiation of the Chapter Presidents Assembly; responsible for the approval of UAP ACE Program by the Professional Regulation Commission; the UAP’s professional and cohesive interactions with allied professional organizations which projected the UAP as a lead professional technical organization, that Canchela served as President of the Confederation of Filipino Consulting Organizations (COFILCO), Director of the Private Sector Low-Income Housing Association (PRISLIHA), Secretary General of the Council of Consulting Architects and Planners of the Philippines (CCAPP), Coordinator - Architectural Sector of the Society of Philippine Accredited Consultants (SPAC) and Vice President of the Architectural Center Club, Inc. As Chairman, Board of Architecture of the Professional Regulation Commission, he initiated measures, rules and regulations to uphold protect and expand the role of the architect. These included the establishment of the “design and construction of buildings” as the exclusive domain of architects only; the definition of acts constituting the current practice of architecture; the removal of overlappingof the professional realms of architecture and civil engineering and the regulation of the practice of interior design and landscape architecture by non-architects through specialty boards.
He achieved a marked technical excellence in the design of numerous landmark structures that he built through more than six decades of high ethical standards of professional practice. His works reflected a distinct architectural style and philosophy deserving recognition, such as the Metropolitan Hospital, the Polymedic General Hospital, the 15-storey structural framed Yudeco Building, and the University of Nueva Caceres among others. The UAP-Kaligan Shelter for the Homeless Program (a nationwide, collective and social commitment), through UAP Chapters was founded during his Presidency. By inventing and patenting Canchela Shelter Components and Stacking Process for multi-story buildings which he used in his socialized housing projects, CV Canchela contributed to the Herculean effort to give the great mass of underprivileged and homeless poor, access to decent affordable housing.
Apart from his notable contributions to the profession, Canchela still made time for his active civic endeavours through the Rotary Club organization having served as President of the Rotary Club of Cubao and a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International Foundation and his selfless community serviceas Barangay Captain of Barangay Socorro, Cubao, Quezon City; and 2nd Lt. in the USAFFE guerilla force in Albay Province during the World War II, and several other similar capacities to benefit the community, government, and country.
Major Projects
- 15-Storey Yudeco Building
- Polymedic General Hospital
- Mercantile Insurance Building
- Metropolitan Hospital