Legarda Bats for Regional Museums for Cultural Preservation

Senator Loren Legarda has formalized her proposal to have folk art museums in every region in the country through a bill she filed amending the National Museum Act.

Legarda said that the establishment of museums in the country will ensure the transmission of valuable traditional knowledge to the younger generation.

“For years, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has taken the lead in facilitating the conservation and transfer of cultural heritage—expressed through the country’s various traditional folk arts, via its Manlilikha ng Bayan and Schools of Living Tradition (SLT) program. This bill seeks to complement the efforts of the NCCA by explicitly requiring the National Museum through its regional museums to serve as venues in ensuring the conservation and preservation of the country’s traditional folk arts,” she said.

The Senator said that under the bill, regional museums should also display traditional folk arts collection aside from the local archeological finds, objects of art, and other local cultural treasures.

Furthermore, the regional museums should lead the conservation, preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage of the SLTs found within their localities.

“With these regional museums showcasing traditional folk arts we hope to start a cultural revolution through an immersion in the Philippine art from the ordinary folks of old. We also hope that these museums will help develop craftsmanship and industry, national identity and pride, and will help unite Filipinos,” Legarda concluded.