The National Museum of the Philippines (Filipino: Pambansang Museo ng Pilipinas) is an umbrella government organization that oversees a number of national museums in the Philippines including ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological, and visual arts collections. From 1973 until 2021,[3] the National Museum served as the regulatory and enforcement agency of the government of the Philippines in the restoring and safeguarding of significant cultural properties, sites, and reservations throughout the Philippines. The mandate has since been transferred to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.[4]
Casa de la Moneda which hosted the museum-library of the Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas
Spanish era
The first predecessor to the current National Museum of the Philippines organization was the Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas which was established by royal decree by the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines on August 12, 1887. Its first museum-library opened at the Casa de la Moneda along Cabildo Street on October 24, 1891. It later moved to a building along Gunao Street in Quiapo before it became defunct sometime around the onset of the American occupation of the Philippines in 1900.[5]
American era
The American-supervised Philippine Commission established the Insular Museum of Ethnology, Natural History, and Commerce under the Department of Public Instruction on October 29, 1901 through Act No. 284 to replace the museum-library. The Insular Museum was founded to complement the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes which was later renamed as the Bureau of Ethnological Survey. After the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, the Insular Museum was renamed as the Philippine Museum. The Bureau of Ethnological Survey was abolished as a separate bureau and was reorganized as the Division of Ethnology under the Bureau of Education in 1905. It was subsequently moved to the Bureau of Science in 1906.[6]
In 1916, the organization of the Philippine Museum underwent another overhaul. Through Act No. 2572, the Philippine Library and Museum was created through the merger of the Division of Ethnology and the Fine Arts Division of the Philippine Museum. The Philippine Museum's Natural History Division was retained under the Bureau of Science.[6]
The National Museum of the Philippine Islands would be established on December 7, 1928 through Act No. 3477. It was placed under the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It was abolished in 1933 by Act No. 4007. The Division of Fine Arts was placed under the Philippine Library and Museum (now National Library of the Philippines) while the Division of Ethnology was placed under the Bureau of Science. The National Museum Division was created from the merger of the Division of Ethnology and the Natural History Division. The National Museum Division was renamed as the National History Museum Division with the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce named as its parent agency via Commonwealth Act No. 453 in 1939. The Division was later merged to the National Library's Division of Fine Arts to become the National Museum under the Office of the Executive Secretary.[6]
World War II
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II brought the Natural History Museum Division and the National Library's Fine Arts Division back under a single organization, but the museum lost a large part of its collection during the Liberation of Manila of 1945 when the Old Legislative Building and the Bureau of Science Building was destroyed. The organization which resulted from the divisions' merger was named as the National Museum and was placed under the Office of the Executive Secretary.[5] The Legislative Building was later restored.
Contemporary era
Historic Marker of the Philippine National Museum
The museum's role in cultural growth was recognized as contributing to government's desire for national development.[7] In 1966, President Ferdinand Marcos signed Republic Act No. 4846 or the Cultural Properties and Protection Act.[citation needed] In 2013, President Noynoy Aquino launched the construction of the National Museum of Natural History, which opened in 2018. Aquino also backed the construction and development of several regional museums, including the museums in Batanes, Vigan, Marinduque, Bohol and Iloilo, among others, while supporting the heritage preservation projects of the National Museum, including the restoration of churches damaged by natural calamities, including churches in Cebu, Bohol, and Eastern Samar.[8] In 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte changed the agency's name from National Museum to National Museum of the Philippines through Republic Act No. 11333.[9]
The National Museum had a satellite museum in Bolinao, Pangasinan. It was an archeological museum featuring historic objects retrieved from the different parts of the province. It first opened in 1970.[10]
The Planetarium was planned in the 1970s by former National Museum Director Godofredo Alcasid Sr. with the assistance of Mr. Maximo P. Sacro Jr. of the Philippine Weather bureau and one of the founders of the Philippine Astronomical Society.
The building started on construction on 1974 and completed 9 months after. It was formally inaugurated on October 8, 1975. The Presidential Decree No. 804-A, issued on September 30, 1975, affirmed the Planetarium's status. The Planetarium is located between the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden at the Rizal Park.[11]
Seminars and lectures
The National Museum offers numerous lectures, workshops, and seminars annually. However, most of these events happen at the museums within Metro Manila. More than 80% of provinces in the country have yet to possess a museum under the authority of the National Museum. A partial reason for this lacking is the non-existence of a Department of Culture. In late 2016, a bill establishing the Department of Culture and the Arts and another bill strengthening the National Museum, including its regional museums, were filed in the Senate. Both bills were formally introduced in early 2017, but neither prospered in the legislation process due to lack of support from lawmakers.[12]
Repatriation of artefacts
In 2023, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC agreed to return the remains of 64 Filipinos that it acquired without consent during the American occupation for anthropological research, including to support racist beliefs about white supremacy, and stored at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, to the National Museum following discussions with the latter and the Philippine Embassy.[13]
In February 2024, the museum received a donation of four early 19th-century panels depicting various saints from the pulpit of Boljoon Church in Cebu from Union Bank of the Philippines CEO Edwin Bautista. The news of the donation led to demands from the Archdiocese of Cebu as well as officials and residents of the province for the panels to be repatriated, citing the fact that they had went missing from the church during the 1980s due to either theft or an illegal sale by the parish priest.[14] In response, the museum said that it was open to share the panels with Cebu, adding that the donors procured the panels through legitimate means, “highlighting their commitment to ethical acquisition.”[15] A copy of the deed of donation of the panels obtained by Rappler read that the panels should stay with the museum, which would hold them in perpetuity and put them on display, while acknowledging that the panels came from Boljoon Church.[16] On April 1, the Cebu Provincial Board passed a motion to file charges against the National Museum and others who took custody over the panels.[17]
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