Baybay City in Leyte and Mountain Province in the Cordillera Region may soon have new treats for tourists and locals after a House panel approved on Tuesday, Oct. 11, two measures proposing for the establishment of cultural centers and museums there.

House Bill (HB) No. 416, authored by Leyte 5th District Rep. Carl Nicolas Cari, would establish the Baybay City Cultural Center and Museum, while HB No. 448 by Mountain Province Lone District Rep. Maxi Dalog Jr. would build the Mountain Province Cultural Center and Museum.

National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chair Dr. Rene Escalante, also the chairperson of the National Historic Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), expressed support for both bills but emphasized that the NCCA may not be able to help in the day-to-day operation of the proposed Baybay City Cultural Center and Museum because of lack of budget.

“If the training of curators and other personnel will be running the museum is needed, then we can extend assistance, but as far as running it will be a totally different story,” he told the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture during its 7th Regular Meeting.

Escalante lamented that NHCP already maintains a total of 28 museums.

“There should also be a corresponding regular appropriation for this in the event that Congress will decide that this will be managed by the national government,” he said.

However, the NCCA chief lauded Baybay City’s local government unit (LGU) for allotting a portion of its property for the planned museum.

He said this after Baybay City Mayor Jose Carlos Cari stated that the LGU can manage the security of the museum, but the day-to-day operation would be NCCA’s “expertise.”

For the museum planned in Mountain Province, Dalog revealed that although there is currently a private museum owned by the Immaculate Heart of Mary Congregation, the LGU wants to have its own “comprehensive museum.”

“And it’s a very small museum. We want it . . . the provincial government will run this cultural center or museum for a more comprehensive museum,” he said.

In a letter by Mt. Province Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr., he said the establishment of the cultural center and museum there will benefit the province “as there will be a repository of the arts and culture of the province, as well as the tangible cultural heritage.”

“The provincial government, as a show of concrete support, is more than willing to provide space necessary for the construction of the main offices of the Mt. Province Cultural Center and Museum,” the letter, which was read during the hearing, added.

Escalante praised the LGU’s decision of establishing a cultural center specifically in Mt. Province, citing the already existing Cordillera Museum inside the University of the Philippines-Baguio, the BenCab Museum also in Baguio, and a museum in Banaue, Ifugao.

He advised the LGUs in the Cordillera Region to “sit down” to ensure that there would be “less overlapping” of the museums’ functions and contents.