"You can still get away with saying that one person is PIC and the other is sole manipulator of the controls"

Really. Can you defend that with a FAR reference? I think that's a bit of a stretch. You're IMC and one guy is logging PIC as sole manipulator and the other as PIC? If the other guy is a CFI, then fine. You're saying two guys simultaneously log PIC if you simply declare the non-flying pilot as PIC in a light twin?

All I can say is I sure hope regional interviewers are putting pressure on guys that log a lot of this sort of time. This lowering the bar in experience standards has to stop.