Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

(a) 'Adaptive reuse' shall refer to the utilization of buildings, other built structures, and sites of value for purposes other than those for which they were originally intended, in order to conserve the site, their engineering integrity and authenticity of design;

(b) 'Anthropological site' shall refer to any location where studies of specific ethnolinguistic groups are undertaken and whose properties contribute to the nation's cultural heritage;

(c) 'Antique' shall refer to a cultural property found locally which is at least one hundred (100) years old, the production of which has ceased;

(d) 'Archaeological site' shall refer to any location containing fossils, artifacts, and other cultural, geological, botanical, and zoological materials, that depict and document culturally relevant paleontological, prehistoric, or historic events, whether above or below ground, underwater, or at sea level, as declared by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies'

(e) 'Archives' shall refer to public and private records in any format that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their evidential, historical, and informational value; also known as archival materials collections or archival holdings; a place (building/room/storage area) where archival materials are kept and preserved; or an organization or agency, also known as archival agency, or part thereof whose primary responsibility is to appraise, arrange, describe, conserve, promote and mate archival materials available for reference and research;

(f) 'ASEAN heritage parks' shall refer to protected areas recognized by ASEAN to be of high conservation importance, preserving in total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the ASEAN Region. They are established to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of ASEAN's rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate greater collaboration among the ASEAN member states in preserving their shared natural heritage;

(g) 'Built heritage' shall refer to architectural and engineering structures such as, but not limited to, bridges, government buildings, houses of ancestry, traditional dwellings, quartels, train stations, lighthouses, small ports, educational, technological and industrial complexes, and their settings and landscape with notable historical and cultural significance;

(h) 'Collector' shall refer to any person who or institution that acquires cultural property for purposes other than sale;

(i) 'Commission', when used singly, shall refer to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA);

(j) 'Conservation' shall refer to all processes and measures for maintaining the cultural significance of a cultural property, including but not limited to, preservation, restoration, reconstruction, protection, adaptation, or any combination thereof;

(k) 'Conservation Management Plan (CMP)' shall refer to the main guiding document for the conservation and management of immovable cultural properties. It states what is significant about a place and consequently what policies and actions are appropriate which enable that significance to be retained in its future use and development;

(l) 'Cultural agencies' shall refer to the following national government agencies: the NCCA; National Museum of the Philippines (NMP); National Library of the Philippines (NLP); National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP); National Archives of the Philippines (NAP); Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF);

(m) 'Cultural education' shall refer to the teaching and learning of cultural concepts and processes;

(n) 'Cultural heritage' shall refer to the totality of cultural property that has been preserved and developed over time and passed on to future generations;

(o) 'Cultural heritage worker' shall refer to an individual engaged in cultural heritage work;

(p) 'Cultural institution' shall refer to entities primarily engaged in cultural work;

(q) 'Cultural mapping' shall refer to the identification, recording, and use of cultural resources of communities. It is a systematic set of activities and methodological processes for discovering, documenting, analyzing, interpreting, presenting, and sharing information related to people, communities, societies, places, and their material products, practices, and narratives;

(r) 'Cultural property' shall refer to 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 owned publicly or privately, movable or immovable, or tangible or intangible;

(s) 'Dealers' shall refer to natural or juridical persons who acquire cultural property for the purpose of engaging in the acquisition and disposition of the same;

(t) 'Gabaldon school buildings' shall refer to school buildings designed by American Architect William Parsons and funded through Act No. 1801 authored by Assemblyman Isauro Gabaldon;

(u) 'Global geoparks' shall refer to single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes considered by UNESCO of international geological significance, managed with a holistic concept of protection, education, and sustainable development;

(v) 'Heritage houses' shall refer to houses of ancestry of notable historical, cultural, social, architectural, and artistic value and significance, as declared by the NHCP;

(w) 'Heritage trees' shall refer to trees that share common and extensive histories with the people with whom and place in which they are found, as determined by the pertinent cultural agency or agencies;

(x) 'Heritage zone' shall refer to historical, anthropological, archaeological, and artistic geographical areas and settings that are culturally significant to the national and declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies;

(y) 'Historic place names' shall refer to a place name that has been in existence for at least fifty (50) years and has become historic over time;

(z) 'Historic site' shall refer to a place declared by the NHCP to have important historic significance;

(aa) 'History' shall refer to a written account of past events in Philippine history;

(bb) 'Important cultural property' shall refer to a cultural property that has exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines, and has been officially declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies;

(cc) 'Intangible cultural heritage/' shall refer to the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, and the instruments, objects, and artifacts associated therewith that communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage, such as: (1) oral traditions, languages, and expressions; (2) performing arts; (3) social practices, rituals, and festive events; (4) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; (5) traditionally craftsmanship; and (6) customary systems for justice and child welfare;

(dd) 'Intangible cultural property' shall refer to peoples' learned processes, along with the knowledge, skills and creativity informed and developed by them, the products created, and the resources, spaces, and other aspects of social and natural context that are necessary for sustainability;

(ee) 'Library' shall refer to an institution where the collection of books, manuscripts, computerized information, and other materials is organized to provide physical, bibliographic, and/or intellectual access to the public, with a librarian who is trained to provide services and programs related to the information needs of its clientele;

(ff) 'Marked structure' shall refer to sites with a marker from a cultural agency;

(gg) 'Memory of the World Register' shall refer to documentary heritage inscribed by UNESCO because of its international significance and its outstanding universal value. This includes documentary universal value. This includes documentary heritage listed in the International Register, Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific Regional Register, and National Register. Inscription in these registers publicly affirms the significance of the documentary heritage, makes it better known and allows for greater access to it, thereby facilitating research, education, entertainment, and preservation over time;

(hh) 'Museum' shall refer to a permanent institution that researches, acquires, preserves, communicates, and exhibits material evidence of humans and their environment for educational and recreational purposes;

(ii) 'National cultural treasure' shall refer to a unique cultural property found locally possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic, and/or scientific value, is highly significant and important to the country and nation, and has been officially declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies;

(jj) 'National historical landmarks' shall refer to sites or structures that are associated with events or achievements significant to Philippine history, as declared as such by law or the NHCP;

(kk) 'National historical monuments' shall refer to structures that honor illustrious persons or commemorate events of historical value, as declared as such by law or the NHCP;

(ll) 'National historical shrines' shall refer to historic sties or structures hallowed and revered for their history or association, as declared as such by law or the NHCP;

(mm) 'Nationally significant' shall refer to historical, aesthetic, scientific, technical, social, and/or spiritual values that unify the nation by a deep sense of pride in their diverse yet common identities, cultural heritage, and national patrimony;

(nn) 'Natural heritage' shall refer to flora and fauna, physical, geological, and physiographical formations of the environment, whether terrestrial, wetland, or marine, and the ecosystem with which particular communities have had long-term relationships;

(oo) 'Natural property of cultural significance' shall refer to natural heritage property of cultural significance for its tangible or intangible cultural heritage, whether or not covered by the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (ENIPAS) Act of 2018 (Republic Act No. 11038) or by other environmental laws;

(pp) 'NCCA Portal Cultural Databank' shall refer to the specific domain in the Commission's online database where digitized cultural maps are lodged for public information, scientific research, and academic purposes. It includes the Philippine Registry of Heritage;

(qq) 'Prehistory' shall refer to the period of human history preceding the introduction of the forms of writing;

(rr) 'Reconstruction' shall refer to returning a cultural property, or a portion thereof, to a known earlier state by adding new materials, forms, methodologies, and technology. This shall include: (1) re-creation, or the in situ creation of a presumed earlier state based on surviving evidence from the place and other sites, and on deductions derived from such evidence using new materials; and (2) replication, or the construction of a copy;

(ss) 'Registry' shall refer to the Philippine Registry of Heritage which is a repository of the listings, documentations, and statements of significance of all cultural properties of the country deemed locally and nationally significant;

(tt) 'Restoration' shall refer to the repair of a cultural property to its original condition using appropriate materials, methodologies, forms, and technology;

(uu) 'Tangible cultural property' shall refer to a cultural property with historical, archival, anthropological, archaeological, artistic, and architectural value, and with exceptional or traditional production, whether of Philippine origin or not, including antiques and natural history specimens with significant value;

(vv) 'UNESCO lists of intangible cultural heritage' shall refer to the (1) representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity and (2) list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. Intangible heritage elements in the lists include representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, and the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that UNESCO recognizes to be of international significance;

(ww) 'Wetlands of international importance or Ramsar Sites' shall refer to representative, rare or unique wetlands, or wetlands that are important for conserving biological diversity that are recognized by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in its list of wetlands of international importance on account of their international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology, or hydrology;

(xx) 'World Heritage Sites (WHS)' shall refer to cultural and natural heritage properties considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity that are inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. State parties recognize their duty of ensuring the identification protection, conservation, presentation, and transmission of these properties to future generations and will do all it can to this end, to the utmost of its own financial, artistic, scientific and technical resources;

(yy) 'World Heritage Tentative List' shall refer to the inventory of properties submitted to UNESCO which each State party intends to consider for nomination to the World Heritage List; and

(zz) 'World Network of Biosphere Reserves' shall refer to the list of terrestrials, marine, and coastal ecosystems considered by UNESCO to be of world significance. Biosphere reserves are learning places for sustainable development and sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity."

"ARTICLE III

CULTURAL PROPERTY AND NATURAL

PROPERTY OF CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE