Citation Republic Act No. 10066 Date enacted December 14, 2009 | Date signed March 26, 2010 | |
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The National Cultural Heritage Act (with the designation of Republic Act No. 10066) is a law, or Republic Act, of the Republic of the Philippines. It created the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property and took other steps to preserve historic buildings that are over 50 years old. It was signed into law on March 25, 2009.
It was passed in response to the 2000 demolition of the Manila Jai Alai Building.
The Philippine Registry of Cultural Property registers all cultural properties of the country, which the National Commission for Culture and the Arts is mandated to establish and maintain through the appropriate cultural agencies and local governments.
A house that has significant importance to the Filipino culture is declared to be a "Heritage House" by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), previously known as the National Historical Institute. Historical markers are placed on the houses by the commission to indicate their significance, Ancestral homes that have figured in an historic event, house such as the Bonifacio Trial House in Maragondon, Cavite, or houses of national heroes of the Philippines like the Juan Luna Shrine in Badoc, Ilocos Norte are included among the categories "National Shrines" or "National Historical Landmarks".
The act also requires:
The act defines "cultural property" as "all products of human creativity by which a people and a nation reveal their identity, including churches, mosques and other places of religious worship, schools and natural history specimens and sites, whether public or privately-owned, movable or immovable, and tangible or intangible."
The citizen retains the ownership of the house; the government is only declaring the heritage value of the structure and providing funding for its protection and preservation.