Section 9Sec./Art. 9

Master Plan of the National Museum Complex. -The National Museum shall develop the National Museum Complex within and adjacent to Rizal Park and other identified areas with reference to the Burnham Plan for Manila of 1905, to include such institutional exigencies as public exhibition, activity and function halls, office and operational spaces, museological and technical facilities, premises for commercial operations, vehicular parking, integrative infrastructure for its constituent buildings, parks and green areas, and other kinds of public spaces, both above and below ground.

The National Museum shall likewise implement a design for a large public plaza and park fronting the former Legislative Building, integrating it with Intramuros as a National Cultural Treasure and exposing features of the walls and former moat in this area. The National Museum shall be the primary government entity responsible for the preservation of the Gomburza Monument by Solomon Saprid, opposite the former Legislative Building, and the Sentinel of Freedom, or Lapu-Lapu Monument, by Juan Sajid Imao, in the present Agrifina Circle of Rizal Park, and shall ensure that the continued centrality and appropriate prominence of these monuments in their respective vicinities shall be maintained or otherwise enhanced further in any development that the National Museum may seek to implement relative to the National Museum Complex.

Within one (1) year after the effectivity of this Act, the National Museum shall formulate a Master Plan, if none yet exists.1шphi1 The Master Plan shall be approved by the Board of Trustees and shall be financed by the proceeds from its Endowment Fund and other allowable sources of funds, in accordance with existing laws. Implementation of the approved Master Plan in a programmed and systematic manner, and consequent administration and operation of the National Museum Complex by the National Museum, shall be given the strongest appropriate support by the agencies of the National Government that have jurisdiction over concerned properties, structures and utilities, as well as by the government of the City of Manila.

No development within the area of the National Museum Complex, or which will directly affect the same, shall be permitted without the approval of the National Museum.

The National Museum shall also be authorized to enter into appropriate public-private partnerships concerning property development and management to further the implementation of its Master Plan, in accordance with pertinent laws, rules and regulations.