An act providing for the conservation of National Cultural Heritage, to be undertaken by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and its affiliated cultural agencies was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, concerned that the country’s cultural treasures are destroyed and lost because of illicit trafficking. In addition to this, the country’s prized heritage sites are affected by armed conflict, climate change and negligence.
This is a pro-active manifestation of the Arroyo administration through recognizing heritage conservation and protection as a state duty to forge our national identity and nourish our memory, utilizing it as a creative economic policy for eco-arts based tourism and sustainable development.
The bill in the Senate was principally authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara and passed through the the support of fellow senators Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda and Mar Roxas. In the House, the counterpart measure was sponsored by Cong. Juan Angara. The bill was signed in conjunction with the designation of the Philippines as the 1st ASEAN Culture Capital, inaugurated at Clark, Angeles, Pampanga on the occasion of the 4th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Culture as well as the ASEAN Festival of the Arts held during the UNESCO-ITI World Theater Week observance last March 21-27, according to a presidential proclamation.
The President underscored the need to institutionalize a coordinated effort to preserve and sensitively develop our patrimony and wealth of cultural diversity including education and communication programs as a strong component for tangible and intangible heritage appreciation; synergized community and local government action in a well-defined application of police powers and penalties to curtail heritage desecration and destruction. The law is also significant for an outreach of heritage desecration and destruction. The law is also significant for an outreach of heritage cultural caregiving services to Filipinos overseas.
The bill has been in gestation for more than a decade and its operation is enthusiastically awaited by the culture community where the NCCA, led by Chairman Vilma Labrador and Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez, is a member of the technical working committee.
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca/press-releases/press-release.php?i=51