National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009

• The National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 (RA 10066) provides for the protection and conservation of the national cultural heritage.
• It strengthens the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and its affiliated cultural agencies.
• President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed it on March 26, 2010.
• The State should foster the preservation, enrichment, and dynamic evolution of Filipino culture, based on unity in diversity and free artistic expression.
• The State should conserve, develop, promote, and popularize the nation’s historical and cultural heritage, resources, and artistic creations.
• The country’s artistic and historic wealth is the cultural treasure of the nation and is under State protection.
• Cultural preservation maintains Filipino identity.
• Objectives of the Act:
• Protect, preserve, conserve, and promote the nation’s cultural heritage, property, histories, and the ethnicity of local communities.
• Establish and strengthen cultural institutions.
• Protect cultural workers and ensure their professional development and well-being.

Definition of Terms

• Adaptive reuse: Using buildings and sites of value for purposes other than their original intention to conserve the site and its engineering integrity and authenticity of design

• Anthropological area: A place where studies of specific ethno-linguistic groups are undertaken, with properties valuable to cultural heritage

• Antique: A locally found cultural property that is approximately 100 years old or more, and its production has ceased

• Archaeological area: Any place, above or below ground or water, containing fossils, artifacts, and other cultural, geological, botanical, or zoological materials that document culturally relevant paleontological, prehistoric, and/or historic events

• Archives:

• Public and private records in any format selected for permanent preservation due to evidential, historical, or informational value (archival materials collections or archival holdings).

• The physical place where archival materials are kept and preserved.

• An organization or agency responsible for appraising, arranging, describing, conserving, promoting, and making archival materials available for reference and research (archival agency).

• Built Heritage: Architectural and engineering structures such as bridges, government buildings, ancestral houses, traditional dwellings, train stations, lighthouses, ports, educational, technological, and industrial complexes, and their settings with historical and cultural significance

• Collector: Any person or institution that acquires cultural property for purposes other than sale

• Commission: The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)

• Conservation: Processes and measures to maintain the cultural significance of a cultural property, including preservation, restoration, reconstruction, protection, and adaptation

• Cultural Agencies: National government agencies with specific areas of responsibility:

• National Museum (cultural property)

• National Library (books)

• National Historical Institute (Philippine history)

• National Archives (documents)

• Cultural Center of the Philippines (culture and the arts)

• Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (language)

• Cultural Education: Teaching and learning of cultural concepts and processes

• Cultural Heritage: The totality of cultural property preserved and developed through time and passed on to posterity

• Cultural Heritage Worker: An individual undertaking cultural heritage work

• Cultural Institution: Entities engaged primarily in cultural work

• Cultural Property: All products of human creativity by which a people and a nation reveal their identity, including religious sites, schools, natural history specimens and sites, whether public or private, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible

• Dealers: Natural or juridical persons who acquire cultural property for the purpose of engaging in the acquisition and disposition of the same

• Heritage zone: Historical, anthropological, archaeological, artistic, and geographical areas and settings that are culturally significant to the country, as declared by the National Museum and/or the National Historical Institute

• History: A written record of past events relating to Philippine history

• Historical Landmarks: Sites or structures associated with events or achievements significant to Philippine history, as declared by the National Historical Institute

• Historical Monuments: Structures that honor illustrious persons or commemorate events of historical value, as declared by the National Historical Institute

• Historical shrines: Historical sites or structures hallowed and revered for their history or association, as declared by the National Historical Institute

• Historical street name: A street name which has been in existence for at least 50 years and has been considered historic over time

• Important cultural property: A cultural property having exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines, as determined by the National Museum and/or National Historical Institute

• Intangible cultural heritage: Practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, as well as instruments, objects, and artifacts associated therewith, that communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage, such as:

• Oral traditions, languages, and expressions

• Performing arts

• Social practices, rituals, and festive events

• Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe

• Traditional craftsmanship

• Intangible cultural property: The peoples’ learned processes along with the knowledge, skills, and creativity that inform and are developed by them, the products they create, and the resources, spaces, and other aspects of social and natural context necessary for their sustainability

• Library: An institution where collections of books, manuscripts, computerized information, and other materials are organized to provide physical, bibliographic, and/or intellectual access to the public, staffed by a trained librarian

• Museum: A permanent institution that researches, acquires, conserves, communicates, and exhibits the material evidence of humans and their environment for purposes of education or leisure

• National cultural treasure: A unique cultural property found locally, possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic, and/or scientific value which is highly significant and important to the country and nation, and officially declared as such by a pertinent cultural agency

• Nationally significant: Historical, aesthetic, scientific, technical, social, and/or spiritual values that unify the nation by a deep sense of pride in their common identities, cultural heritage, and national patrimony

• Natural property of cultural significance: Areas possessing outstanding ecosystems with flora and fauna of national scientific importance under the National Integrated Protected Areas System

• NCCA Portal Cultural Databank: The specific domain in the Commission’s intranet for cultural information that is accessed only internally with control and confidentiality which includes the registry of national cultural property

• Prehistory: The period of human history before the introduction of writing

• Registry: The Philippine Registry of Cultural Property, which is the registry of all cultural property of the country deemed of significant importance to our cultural heritage

• Restoration: Action taken or the technical intervention to correct deterioration and alterations

• Tangible cultural property: A cultural property with historical, archival, anthropological, archaeological, artistic, and architectural value, and with exceptional or traditional production, whether of Philippine origin or not, including antiques and natural history specimens with significant value

Overview of the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 (RA 10066) and its objectives including the protection, preservation, and promotion of the nation’s cultural heritage and properties. It aims to strengthen cultural institutions and maintain Filipino identity through cultural preservation. The Act recognizes the country’s artistic and historic wealth under State protection.