Protection of Philippine Cultural Properties

State policy and declared purpose

The State must preserve and protect the nation’s cultural properties.
The State must safeguard the cultural properties’ intrinsic value.
The Act establishes a legal framework for designation, registration, marking, and control of cultural properties of national significance.

Key definitions established

“Cultural properties” include old buildings, monuments, shrines, documents, and objects that may be classified as antiques, relics, or artifacts, landmarks, anthropological and historical sites, and specimens of natural history of cultural, historical, anthropological, or scientific value and significance to the nation.
“Cultural treasures” are cultural properties that are segregated and designated as cultural treasures under the procedure in Section seven of the Act.
“Antiques” are cultural properties that are one hundred years or more in age, or even less, where production has ceased and they have become or are becoming rare.
“Relics” are cultural properties (as a whole or in fragments) left behind after destruction or decay, and intimately associated with important beliefs, practices, customs and traditions, periods, and personages.
“Artifacts” are products of human skills or workmanship, especially primitive arts or industry, representing an area or period.
“Natural history specimens” are live or preserved specimens of plants and animals, fossils, rocks, and minerals, and the Act embraces only types, presently irreplaceable specimens, and those in danger of extinction.
“Type” (as used in Section seven-b) refers to a specimen selected as the best to represent a kind or class of objects consisting of many almost identical individuals or pieces; for natural history specimens, the type is the individual specimen used as the basis of description establishing the species under nomenclature rules.

Implementing authority and institutional roles

The National Museum (the Museum) is the government agency that implements the Act (Section 4).
The Director of the National Museum (the Director) must conduct a census of cultural properties in the Philippines.
The Director must maintain a register of cultural properties, including ownership, location, and condition (Section 5).
The Director must require private collectors and owners and public and private schools possessing cultural properties to register their collections with the Museum and to report new acquisitions, sales, or transfers.

Panels of experts and cultural treasure designation

The Director is authorized to convene panels of experts composed of three competent men in specialized fields, including anthropology, natural sciences, history and archives, fine arts, philately and numismatics, and shrines and monuments (Section 6).
Panels must decide, after study and deliberation, which cultural properties in their field of specialization shall be designated as cultural treasures (Section 6).

Procedure for declaring “cultural treasures”

For privately owned cultural properties, the owner must be notified at least fifteen days before intended designation (Section 7).
The owner must be invited to attend deliberations and be given a chance to be heard (Section 7).
Panels must render a decision within a week after deliberation (Section 7).
A privately owned property designation becomes final and executory if no request for reconsideration is filed within thirty days from the decision date (Section 7).
A request for reconsideration filed within thirty days that is denied may be appealed to another panel chaired by the Secretary of Education, with two experts as members appointed by the President of the Philippines; this decision is final and binding (Section 7).
For each kind or class of objects, only type and five best duplicates may be designated as cultural treasures; the remainder are treated as cultural property (Section 7).
Designated cultural treasures must be permanently and consciously marked, described, and photographed (Section 7).
The owner retains possession of cultural treasures, while the Museum keeps a record containing: name of article, owner, period, source, location, description, photograph, identifying marks, approximate value, and other pertinent data (Section 7).

Ownership control, transfer limits, and export rules

Cultural treasures must not change ownership, except by inheritance, without prior notification to and notations in the Museum’s records (Section 8).
Cultural treasures may not be taken out of the country for reasons of inheritance (Section 8).
Cultural treasures may be taken out of the country only with a written permit from the Director, and only for cultural exchange programs or scientific scrutiny (Section 9).
Cultural treasures must be returned immediately after exhibition or study (Section 9).
The Director must require owners to adequately insure cultural treasures against loss or damage, and the treasures must be properly accompanied and/or protected (Section 9).
It is unlawful to export or cause to be taken out of the Philippines any cultural property defined in Section three without a written permit from the Director (Section 10).
The granting or withholding of the export permit must satisfy the procedure in Section seven (Section 10).

Excavation, discovery handling, and supervision

It is unlawful to explore, excavate, or make diggings on archaeological or historical sites to obtain materials of cultural or historical value without the prior written authority of the Director (Section 11).
No excavations or diggings may proceed without supervision by an archaeologist certified by the Director or, in the Director’s opinion, another competent supervisor (Section 11).
Upon completion, the supervisor must deposit with the Museum a detailed report describing the methods and techniques employed and the findings, and must furnish a catalogue of all materials found, following accepted archaeological practices (Section 11).
If excavators strike a buried cultural property, the excavation must be suspended and the matter must be reported immediately to the Director (Section 11).
The Director must take appropriate steps to have the discovery investigated and ensure proper and safe removal with the owner’s knowledge and consent (Section 11).
The suspension cannot be lifted until the Director so allows (Section 11).

Restoration, church arrangements, and renaming controls

Restorations, reconstructions, and preservation of government historical buildings, shrines, landmarks, monuments, and sites designated as cultural treasures must be undertaken with the advice and supervision of the Museum (Section 12).
The Director is authorized to establish working arrangements with ecclesiastical authorities administering church properties and with owners of privately owned historical buildings, shrines, landmarks, monuments, and sites to preserve the original design and artistic values (Section 12).
Renaming of historical buildings, shrines, landmarks, monuments, and streets of cultural and historical significance must be done only with the Museum’s advice and the concurrence of the Director of the National Library (Section 12).

Tax incentives and government first option

Private individuals or institutions that invest for the purchase of cultural properties, or for the support of scientific and cultural expeditions, explorations, or excavations to gather data and bring hidden cultural properties to light may claim deductibility from income tax returns when certified by the Director (Section 13).
When a collector sells cultural properties in the collector’s collection as allowed under the Act, the proceeds are treated as income and are subject to taxation (Section 13).
When cultural properties are placed on sale, the Government has the first option to buy (Section 13).

Implementing rules and appeals

The Director is empowered to promulgate rules and regulations for implementation within three months after enactment (Section 14).
The rules and regulations must be given the widest publicity and sent directly to known collectors, excavators, archaeologists, and others affected (Section 14).
Rules and regulations promulgated under the Act may be appealed and decided by the Secretary of Education (Section 14).

Fees and confiscation/forfeiture mechanism

The Museum may collect fees for registrations, inspections, certifications, authorizations, and permits in compliance with the Act (Section 15).
Objects or materials attempted to be concealed from registration are subject to confiscation and forfeiture to the Government (Section 15).
Objects or materials intended to be exported in violation of the Act are subject to confiscation and forfeiture to the Government (Section 15).
If the violation is committed by a juridical person, the manager, representative, director, agent, or employee responsible for the Act is liable to the penalties provided (Section 15).

Penalties for violations

Any violation of the Act subjects the offender, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than Ten thousand pesos or imprisonment for a term of not more than two years, or both, at the court’s discretion (Section 16).
Confiscation and forfeiture apply to objects or materials attempted to be concealed from registration or intended to be exported in violation of the Act (Section 16).
If the violation is committed by a juridical person, the manager, representative, director, agent, or employee responsible is also liable to the penalties provided (Section 16).

Appropriation for implementation

The law authorizes an annual appropriation of fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00) out of any funds in the National Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the Act (Section 17).

Repeal clause

Act No. 3874, titled “An Act Prohibiting the Exportation of Antiques of the Philippine Islands,” is repealed (Section 18).
All other Acts or parts thereof contrary to the Act are repealed (Section 18).