MALACAÑANG

MANILA

BY  THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 246

CONSTITUTING A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE TO ASSIST THE NATIONAL MUSEUM

WHEREAS, the National Museum is an institution of critical importance in the identification and preservation of our national identity and consciousness through its efforts at discovering, preserving, restoring, storing and exhibiting tangible evidence of Philippine history, culture and art;

WHEREAS, the National Museum is in dire need of all the assistance that may be extended to it by the public, and especially the private sector, in order that it may fulfill its mandate more effectively;

WHEREAS, various private individuals, corporations, and other entities, including non-governmental organizations, are in a position of assist the National Museum, financially and in other respects; and

WHEREAS, the collective efforts at rehabilitating and developing the National Museum may best be coordinated with the participation of concerned and relevant government entities.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

Section 1. Composition. – There is hereby constituted under the Office of the President a Presidential Committee to Assist the National Museum, hereinafter referred to as the “Committee”, which shall be composed of:

The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry

Chairman

An Undersecretary of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports

Member

The Executive Director of the National Museum

Member

The Executive Director of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts

and five (5) private sector representative who shall be appointed by the President, one (1) of whom shall be designated as co-chairperson, while the other four (4) shall be designated as members.

The Committee may, in addition, invite prominent persons to serve as Honorary Chairperson, Advisers or Consultants, to advise or otherwise participate in the work of the Committee.

The Committee members from the public sector shall serve in their ex officio capacities. The Committee members from the private sector shall continue to serve until their successors, also from the private sector, shall have been appointed by the President.

Section 2. Functions. – The Committee shall undertake the following:

a. Formulate a comprehensive strategy or plan for the rehabilitation, development, and operation of the National Museum, consistent with its purposes, and which will harness the collective strength of the government and private sectors, and submit the same to the President for approval;

b. Undertake, implement, coordinate and monitor fund-raising projects, programs and activities pursuant to the said strategy or plan, to finance the rehabilitation and development of the National Museum.

c. Establish such working sub-committees as may be necessary, and invite the members thereof from the government and private sectors; and

d. Perform such other functions as the President may direct.

Section 3. Secretariat. – The Department of Trade and Industry shall initially provide the Secretariat of the Committee until such time that the Committee has organized its own technical and administrative support from officers and employees of the government departments or agencies, and other personnel from the private sector as the Committee may deem fit.

Section 4. Funding. – The Committee shall be allocated such amounts from the President’s Contingent Fund as may be determined by the President. Thereafter, all funding requirements of the Committee shall be raised by it from its fund raising projects, donations, grants, or contributions.

Any and all monies by the Committee through its fund raising activities, including contributions, grants, donations, financial assistance and the like, shall be retained by it and shall be retained by it and shall partake of the nature of a trust fund, to be deposited in the Committee’s account with any government or private bank of its choice.

The management, utilization and disposition of the Committee’s funds raised by it through its fund-raising activities shall be exclusive prerogative and responsibility of the committee, provided that such funds shall be solely used and devoted to carry out or accomplish the Committee’s purposes and objectives. The Committee shall separately account for funds received from the President’s Contingent Fund and funds received from it fund-raising activities. Funds received from the President’s Contingent Fund shall be subject to audit by the Commission on Audit. Funds received from fund raising activities, including contributions, grants, donations and financial assistance and the like, shall be subject to periodic audit by a reputable accounting firm.

Section 5. Support. – The Committee may call upon any government department, agency or instrumentality, including government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, for any assistance that it may need in the pursuit of its purposes and objectives and the implementation of its programs and activities. Similarly, the Committee may call upon non-government organizations, institutions and corporations, as well as private entities and persons, for such support. Contributions, grants, donations or other financial assistance to the Committee shall be entitled to, in accordance with and subject to compliance with the requirements of the pertinent provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code, deduction for income tax purposes of the donor.

Section 6. Reportorial Requirements. – The Committee shall submit to the President for his approval, within six months from the effectivity of this Order, its Comprehensive Plan for the Rehabilitation and Development of the National Museum, including financial estimates. Thereafter, the Committee shall submit a progress report to the President at the end of each fiscal year.

Section 7. Life of the Committee. – This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately. The Committee shall be an ad hoc advisory body and its existence shall be at the discretion and pleasure of the President, and in any case shall cease upon the completion of all activities and projects undertaken by it in the pursuit of its purposes and objectives, as may be reported by the Committee and as may be decided upon by the President.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 26th day of January in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS
President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) RUBEN D. TORRES

Executive Secretary

Source: Malacañang Records Office

Office of the President of the Philippines. (1996). [Administrative Order Nos. : 201 – 300]. Manila : Malacañang Records Office.