CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Budget Sec. Florencio Abad said the Aquino government has allocated P200 million for next year for the maintenance and preservation of so-called “heritage sites” all over the country.
Abad revealed this during the recent 114th anniversary of the opening of the first Philippine Congress in the historic Barasoain church Malolos City, saying the funding would ensure the preservation of sites “rich in history.”
He said the government is giving importance to heritage sites to inspire the citizenry, especially the youth.
Abad said that early on, the government has already started improving heritage sites as could be gleaned from the newly installed lights at the Barasoain church where a so-called sound museum with an e-learning center could also be found. This museum is now called the Malolos Republic Museum.
“This project cost us P11 million and it is part of the five-year shrine and museum development program of the government,” Abad also said.
Meanwhile, National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chair Maria Serena Diokno said that the P200 million fund would be used to preserve and maintain historical markers, parks and museums in accord with Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural and Heritage Preservation Act OF 2010.
“This law aims to preserve historical sites as they originally were, without changing any detail,” she said.
The World Heritage Convention keeps a list of heritage sites worldwide. In the Philippines, the heritage sites include the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, the Historic Town of Vigan, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, and the Baroque Churches of the Philippines – Santo Tomàs de Villanueva in Miag-ao, Iloilo; San Agustin in Paoay, Ilocos Norte; Nuestra Señora dela Asunción in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur; and San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila.
