House OKs bill expanding National Cultural Heritage Law on third and final reading

The House of Representatives has passed a measure seeking to strengthen National Cultural Heritage Law by expanding coverage of natural property of cultural significance and mandating cultural mapping for local government units (LGUs), among others.

House Bill 5110 provides that natural heritage will include flora and fauna, physical, geological, and physiographical formations of the environment and other related ecosystems, whether  terrestrial, wetland, or marine, as well as the ecosystem services they provide.

It defines natural property of cultural significance as natural heritage characterized by intense beauty, endemicity, and unique biological diversity under the National Integrated Protected Areas System law.

This includes other protected areas recognized internationally upon the recommendation of the Philippine government such as heritage parks, biosphere reserves, and Ramsar sites designated under the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Likewise, the bill states that threatened species of plants and animals identified in accordance with the provisions of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Law, also fall under natural property of cultural significance.

Further, the measure states that LGUs, in conducting a comprehensive cultural mapping program in their respective jurisdictions, will work with the following agencies of the government, as the case may be:

• Commission on Higher Education
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Education
• Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• Department of Foreign Affairs
• Department of Information and Communications Technology
• Department of the Interior and Local Government
• Department of National Defense
• Film Development Council of the Philippines
• National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
• Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care of the Department of Health,  among others.

The measure also provides for technical and financial assistance to local government units (LGUs) in the conduct of an inventory and updating of locally and nationally-declared cultural properties.

“This will preserve the country’s cultural heritage so that future generations will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the richness of Philippine history and culture,” the committee report on the measure read.

“This will also institutionalize cultural mapping to properly document tangible and intangible, natural and built, cultural heritage including indigenous knowledge systems and practices,” it added.

In addition, House Bill 5110 expands the coverage of the cultural heritage education program created under the National Cultural Heritage Law by including research and documentation of heritage in various platforms; utilization of cultural heritage in interdisciplinary fields; indigenous knowledge systems skills and practices; and music, sound, and audiovisual archiving.

The authors of the measure include Representatives Christopher De Venecia of Pangasinan, Gus Tambunting of Parañaque, Roman Romulo of Pasig, Mujiv Hataman of Basilan, among others.—AOL, GMA Integrated News