UP Task Force Arki

UP Task Force Arki UP TFA is Arki's only university-wide,
service-oriented organization. Building an environment that builds people! 💚

The University of the Philippines Task Force Arki (UP TFA) is the UP College of Architecture's only service-oriented student organization. Established in 1986 at the height of martial law and student-led activism, its founders were compelled to action by the worsening urban housing crisis and sought to attract like-minded design students to nurture patriotism and social awareness. Today, the organization aims to explore and implement architectural and design solutions that respond to community and larger societal issues in order to uplift and empower Filipinos at all levels of society. It achieves these goals various activities such as talks and symposiums, research projects, joint building projects, community outreach projects, among others.

Ang kalusugan ng kapaligiran ay kalusugan din ng sambayanan.Environmental health goes beyond protecting nature. It is al...
26/09/2026

Ang kalusugan ng kapaligiran ay kalusugan din ng sambayanan.

Environmental health goes beyond protecting nature. It is also about creating environments where people can live, breathe, move, and thrive. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the spaces we occupy, and the communities we build all shape our health and quality of life. This World Environmental Health Day, we are reminded that the health of our communities is closely tied to the health of the environments around them.

The built environment is part of that relationship. The way we design homes and public spaces, plan streets and neighborhoods, and respond to heat and other environmental hazards can directly affect people’s everyday lives. When these systems fail or are poorly planned, their effects are not felt equally. Communities already facing greater social and environmental risks are often the most exposed to flooding, pollution, extreme heat, unsafe living conditions, and limited access to basic services.

This year’s World Environmental Health Day theme, “Environmental Health: Standing with Science to Protect Communities,” calls for decisions grounded in evidence and a deeper understanding of how environmental conditions affect people. The International Federation of Environmental Health (2026) highlights the role of science-based decision-making in translating research into policies, regulations, and actions that protect communities. For those working with the built environment, this means designing and planning not only for function and aesthetics, but also for safety, resilience, accessibility, and long-term environmental well-being.

As future designers, planners, and advocates, UP Task Force Arki believes that protecting communities begins with understanding the environments they live in. Environmental health reminds us that architecture is never isolated from nature or society—it is part of a larger system that shapes everyday life. Let us stand with science and build environments where every community has the space to live, breathe, move, and thrive. Because caring for the environment also means caring for the people who live in it.

International Federation of Environmental Health. (2026). World Environmental Health Day. https://www.ifeh.org/wehd/

Pub by Rainier Ahalajal
Write up by Henry Madayag

👷🏻‍♀️👷🏻‍♂️ ANTS AT WORK: TACTICAL URBANISM SITE VISITEarlier on September 12, 2026, the TU Team went to visit 2 differen...
25/09/2026

👷🏻‍♀️👷🏻‍♂️ ANTS AT WORK: TACTICAL URBANISM SITE VISIT

Earlier on September 12, 2026, the TU Team went to visit 2 different communities in Brgy. Pasong Tamo, Quezon City: Guanella Homes and Bonifacio Village

While they may not have reached a desired site, they gained valuable insights from these two communities on how simple architectural choices, waste management practices, and neighborhood layouts work together to build a functional, resilient community.



Caption by Geno Vargas
Frame by Angeli Matias

Habol na, habol na! Our Application Forms close tonight! ✨Stop hesitating, and and don't miss out on the opportunity to ...
23/09/2026

Habol na, habol na! Our Application Forms close tonight! ✨

Stop hesitating, and and don't miss out on the opportunity to join our one colony, in this one antventure, bound by service! 🏠🐜💚

Board by Marc Zamora

NEVER AGAIN, NEVER FORGET | 54 YEARS ONOn September 21, 1972, Proclamation No. 1081 placed the Philippines under Martial...
21/09/2026

NEVER AGAIN, NEVER FORGET | 54 YEARS ON

On September 21, 1972, Proclamation No. 1081 placed the Philippines under Martial Law (Marcos, 1972b). Although the proclamation carries that date, Ferdinand Marcos publicly announced it through radio and television on September 23. Orders issued around the declaration imposed a nationwide curfew, restricted public assemblies and strikes, authorized arrests, and tightened government control over the media (Marcos, 1972a).

What followed is documented not only in history books, but in laws, government records, and the accounts of those who lived through the period. Amnesty International (2022) recorded patterns of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and killings during Martial Law and the remaining years of the Marcos presidency. Decades later, Republic Act No. 10368 formally recognized the State’s responsibility to honor and provide reparation to victims of gross human rights violations committed from September 21, 1972 to February 25, 1986. The Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board eventually recognized 11,103 claimants as eligible for monetary reparation (Commission on Human Rights, 2018). That number, however, should not be mistaken for a complete count of everyone who suffered during the period. More than 75,000 claims were filed, and official and academic sources have noted that many other victims remain outside the final list of approved claims.

For UP Task Force Arki, remembering this history also brings us back to the reason the organization exists. TFA began at the height of Martial Law as architecture students responded to worsening urban housing conditions and looked for ways to put what they were learning into the service of communities. That connection still matters. Architecture is never only about buildings. Housing, public space, access to services, displacement, and the way resources are distributed all shape how people experience everyday life. As students and future practitioners, we have to remain conscious of the people affected by the spaces and systems we help create.

Fifty-four years later, remembering Martial Law means keeping its records, testimonies, and lived experiences from being reduced to numbers or pushed out of public memory. We remember the victims and survivors of human rights violations under the Marcos regime, along with the people who continued to document and preserve their stories.

Some histories are carried in monuments. Others survive in documents, testimonies, names, and the people who choose to keep remembering.

Amnesty International. (2022, April 25). Five things to know about Martial Law in the Philippines. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/five-things-to-know-about-martial-law-in-the-philippines/
Commission on Human Rights. (2018, May 18). Statement of the Commission on Human Rights on the end of operations of the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board. https://chr.gov.ph/statement-of-the-chr-on-the-end-of-operations-of-the-hrvcb/
Institute of Human Rights, UP Law Center. (2020). Martial Law 48th anniversary album: Marcos not a hero: Martial Law revisionism and the fight for history. University of the Philippines Law Center.https://law.upd.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UP-IHR-Martial-Law-Album-Plan.pdf
Marcos, F. E. (1972, September 21). Proclamation No. 1081: Proclaiming a state of Martial Law in the Philippines. The Lawphil Project. https://lawphil.net/executive/proc/proc1972/proc_1081_1972.html
Marcos, F. E. (1972, September 22). General Order No. 4. The Lawphil Project. https://lawphil.net/executive/genor/go1972/go_4_1972.html

Pub and Write-up by Jeana Reotutar

Come unfold the story of Eskwela Caravan ✨See the journey of our TFAnts and the crumbs they left behind with each school...
19/09/2026

Come unfold the story of Eskwela Caravan ✨

See the journey of our TFAnts and the crumbs they left behind with each school in their Antventure! 🐜



Art by Jakob Laiz
Caption by Clydedale Vargas

Address

UP College Of Architecture Bldg. 1, E. De Los Santos Street , Diliman
Quezon City
1101

Telephone

+639283903355

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