Legal basis and linked statute
- The guidelines are issued under the authority of Republic Act No. 10066, known as the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.
- The guidelines operate to implement policy on protecting cultural heritage and regulating export, transit, import, and repatriation of cultural property.
Policy, purpose, and objectives
- The State policy is to preserve and protect Important Cultural Properties and National Cultural Treasures and to safeguard their intrinsic value.
- Cultural properties are deemed necessary and indispensable for understanding history and culture.
- The guidelines are intended to rationalize categorization of archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials.
- The guidelines provide appropriate rules for dealings and disposition of cultural property to protect Government interests and preserve the Filipino people’s cultural heritage.
Definitions used in the guidelines
- Archaeological materials are fossils, artifacts, relics, antiques, and other cultural, geological, botanical, zoological materials collected from any place—above or underground, underwater, or at sea level—that depict and document culturally relevant paleontological, prehistoric, and/or historic events.
- Antique refers to a cultural property found locally that is one hundred (100) years in age, more or less, whose production has ceased.
- Artifacts are articles that are products of human skills or workmanship, including simple products of primitive arts or industry representing past eras or periods.
- Ching (Qing) Dynasty covers 1664 AD to 1912 AD under Manchu rule.
- Cultural Property includes all products of human creativity showing a people’s and nation’s identity, including churches, mosques and other places of religious worship, schools, and natural history specimens and sites, whether public or privately-owned, and whether movable or immovable, and whether tangible or intangible.
- Ecofacts are organic materials from archaeological sites (e.g., bones, shells, plant remains) with cultural significance but not modified by man.
- Five Dynasties covers 907 AD to 960 AD.
- Important Cultural Property (ICP) is a cultural property with exceptional cultural, artistic, historical, and/or scientific significance to the Philippines, as determined by the National Museum.
- Intangible Cultural Property refers to peoples’ learned processes and the knowledge, skills, and creativity informing and developed by them; the products and other manifestations they create; and the resources, spaces, and other aspects of social and natural context necessary for sustainability.
- Ming Dynasty covers 1368 AD to 1644 AD.
- Metal Age is the Philippine Cultural Chronology period marked by introduction of metals from 2,000 to 1,500 years ago.
- National Cultural Treasure is a unique cultural property found locally with outstanding historical, cultural, artistic, and/or scientific value, highly significant and important to the country and nation, and officially declared as such by the National Museum.
- Nationally significant refers to historical, aesthetic, scientific, technical, social and/or spiritual values that unify the nation through pride in common cultural heritage and national patrimony.
- Neolithic Age is the New Stone Age period in which plants and probably animals were domesticated from 10,000 to 2,000 years ago.
- Paleolithic Age is the Old Stone Age dating from the first use of stone by humans from 800,000 to 10,000 years ago.
- Relics are objects possessing cultural property which, as a whole or in fragments, are left behind after destruction or decay of the rest, or are parts intimately associated with important beliefs, practices, customs and traditions, persons and personages.
- Song Dynasty covers 960 to 1279, divided into Northern Song and Southern Song.
- Tang Dynasty covers 618 AD to 907 AD.
- Tangible Cultural Property is a cultural property with historical, archival, anthropological, archaeological, artistic, and architectural value and exceptional or traditional production, whether of Philippine origin or not, including antiques and natural history specimens with significant value.
- Traditional Ethnographic Materials are tangible cultural materials made and used by ethno-linguistic groups of the Philippines; replicas for commercial purposes are not classified as cultural property.
- Yuan Dynasty covers 1271 AD to 1368 AD.
Scope and categories covered
- The guidelines govern categorization and dealings of archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials.
- The guidelines apply for the purposes of protecting and regulating export, transit, import and repatriation of cultural property.
- Cultural properties are categorized into Grades of Cultural Property (Grade I, Grade II, Grade III).
- National Cultural Treasure (Grade I) is the highest significance category.
- Important Cultural Property (Grade II) is the high significance category below Grade I.
- Cultural Property (Grade III) covers cultural properties outside Grades I and II that are listed in the Registry of National Museum Data Bank.
Classification standards for grades
- Grade I (National Cultural Treasure) applies to archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials with outstanding value that are nationally significant and important, officially declared by the National Museum, and supported by the Panel of Experts.
- Grade II (Important Cultural Property) applies to archaeological materials dated to the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Metal Periods.
- Grade II also applies to archaeological materials attributed to the Tang, Five and Yuan Dynasties.
- Grade II further applies to archaeological materials attributed to the Song, Ming and Ching Dynasties, and other archaeological materials from other countries with exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines, as determined by the National Museum and supported by the Panel of Experts.
- Grade II ethnographic materials require being at least 100 years old from the date of collection, with cultural significance and extensive documentation.
- Grade III applies to archaeological materials not classified as Grades I and II that are listed in the Registry of National Museum Data Bank.
- Grade III ethnographic materials require being at least 50 years old from the date of collection, with cultural significance and proper documentation.
Rules on dealings, export, and ownership
- The National Museum has the right of first refusal in the purchase of archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials declared as National Cultural Treasures.
- The National Museum must appropriate funds annually or use its donated funds for purposes of exercising the right of first refusal.
- Archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials under Grades I and II cannot be sold, resold, or taken out of the country without first securing clearance from the National Museum.
- Grade I and Grade II materials cannot change ownership except by inheritance or by sale duly approved by the National Museum.
- Even in inheritance or sale, Grade I and Grade II materials cannot be taken out of the country for those reasons.
- Grade I and Grade II materials may be taken out of the country only with a Permit To Export from the National Museum.
- Permit To Export for Grade I and Grade II materials is limited to purposes of exhibition or scientific scrutiny, and the materials must be returned immediately after exhibition or study.
- For exhibition or study of Grade I and Grade II materials, necessary safeguards must be duly complied with, as required by the concerned cultural agency.
- Grade III materials may be taken out of the country only with a Permit To Export from the National Museum.
Separability, amendment, and revocation
- A declaration of unconstitutionality or invalidity of any provision does not affect the remaining provisions, which continue in force as if the invalid provision had never been incorporated.
- The guidelines amend and/or revoke other orders, rules, and regulations that are inconsistent with the guidelines.