Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 1a80

Introduced by HON. MUJIV S. HATAMAN of the Lone District of Basilan and
HON. AMIHILDA J. SANGCOPAN of Anak Mindanao (AMIN) Party-List

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to promote, protect and conserve the traditional arts in
Mindanao, creating for the purpose the Institute for Traditional Arts in Mindanao and
Sulu.

Mindanao is a cultural tapestry. It is home to 18 Lumad tribes, 13 ethnic-
linguistic Moro tribes and 64 settler groups who have lived in the island for centuries.
Mindanao a group of islands with peoples diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural
diversities. Each ethnic group has its own unique identity and customs, manifested
mostly in their traditional arts passed on and kept for generations.

‘The traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu as well as in hundreds of adjacent
islands are well understood in academic, popular and community contexts as diverse,
profoundly meaningful and deeply embedded in history. Mindanao traditional arts
constitute national heritage.

However, there is a real concern that the traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu
such as the art of hand weaving, metallurgy and methalsmithing, architecture,


music and epic chanting, are becoming extinct. The younger generations do not have
an interest in learning their parents’ arts and crafts. The Indigenous People and
Muslims, like any other indigenous groups have been actually influenced and
affected by the modern world; their cultural distinctiveness is slowly being erased.
Because of urban influences, their unique traditional arts are on the brink of
extinction. Armed conflicts that result to burning of properties and constant
displacement, as well as poverty that force families to sell heirlooms, contribute to
the decline of the traditional arts.

A good number of Filipinos, organizations, anthropologists and art specialists
all over the world are focused on preserving and conserving the traditional arts in
Mindanao. But State intervention is necessary.

‘The proposed creation of Institute of Sulu and Mindanao Traditional Arts or
INSUMINTRA jis urgent. The INSUMINTRA is mandated to plan, institute,
implement and monitor traditional arts, crafts, programs, projects and activities that
will institutionalize the preservation and enhancement of the traditional arts in
Mindanao and Sulu, It will also coordinate with other concerned agencies engaged
in similar and related activities.

Traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu must be kept alive, not only because
they provide income for the artisans and their communities but more importantly
because they are the remaining proof of pre-colonial identity of the people of
Mindanao and Sulu, and therefore of all Filipinos.

In view of the foregoing, immediate approval of this bill is highly
recommended,

nope Ca SANGCOPAN
MIN) Patt:



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 1580

Introduced by HON. MUJIV S. HATAMAN of the Lone District of Basilan and
HON. AMIHILDA J. SANGCOPAN of Anak Mindanao (AMIN) Party-List

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROMOTION, PROTECTION AND
CONSERVATION OF THE TRADITIONAL ARTS IN MINDANAO AND
SULU, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE THE INSTITUTE FOR SULU AND
MINDANAO TRADITIONAL ARTS AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS,
THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Traditional Arts in
Mindanao and Sulu Act.”

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — With the growing awakening of the
Filipino masses to understand, appreciate and celebrate the nation’s cultural diversity
and with the call to correct historical injustice against the Muslims and Indigenous
people, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State to foster the promotion,
protection, conservation, enrichment and dynamic evolution of the traditional arts in
Mindanao and Sulu for their cultural values and to support the traditional artists for
their contributions to the national heritage by ensuring that their skills are passed on to
future generations of Mindanaons and Tausugs.

SECTION 3. Institute for Traditional Arts. — Pursuant to the above-stated
policy, the Institute for Sulu and Mindanao Traditional Arts or INSUMINTRA is
hereby created to formulate, implement and monitor policies, plans and cultural
programs, projects and activities that promote, preserve, enhance and develop the
positive elements of the traditional arts and culture in Mindanao and Sulu. The
INSUMINTRA shall coordinate with other agencies engaged in similar and related
activities.


‘The INSUMINTRA shall be an independent agency. It shall render an annual
report of its activities and achievements to the President of the Philippines and to
Congress of the Philippines.

‘As used in this Act, traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu refer to the culture
of a group of people in Mindanao and Sulu, their skills and knowledge that are
passed through generations, from the master craftsmen to apprentice, which include
weaving, sculpture, painting, relief work, metallurgy and metal smithing, house and
boat architecture, culinary, poetry, and epics, solo and ensemble instrumental music,
solo and ensemble vocal music, dance, theatre, and multi-media expressions such as
ritual.

SECTION 4. Coverage. - The INSUMINTRA covers the island of Mindanao;
the Sulu Archipelago including Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and all the islands in between;
Sarangani (or Balut) Island; Siargao, Dinagat and neighboring islands; Samal and
Talikud Islands and all nearby islets; Camiguin Island; the islands off the coast of
Polloc Harbor; Capul Island located at the southern tip of Samar whose inhabitants
and their descendants speak the Samalan language.

SECTION 5. Principal Office. - The INSUMINTRA shall have two main
offices, one in Zamboanga City and the other in the Municipality of Maramag,
Province of Bukidnon. It may establish field offices in other parts of Mindanao and
Sulu, as may be necessary, to achieve the objectives of this Act.

SECTION 6. Duties and Responsibilities. - The INSUMINTRA shall exercise
the following duties and responsibilities:

a) Consolidate an active database of traditional arts forms and practices in
Mindanao and Sulu, practitioners or artists, locations, relevant
genealogies, and historical anthropological and archaeological accounts;

b)

Conduct the necessary research and grassroots consultation to develop
project designs aligned with community interests and structure;

©) Determine an annual priority list of traditional arts practitioners to engage
in the recuperation or resuscitation projects based on priority-setting,
metrics;

d) Undertake a pioneering role in project design that:

1) Account for the highly specific, localized nature of traditional arts;

2) Create economic support systems other than gross
commercialization;

3) Allow transition of old arts to modernity without decay of quality;

4) Support communities rather than individual artists; and

5) Promote traditional arts in their full complexity, without
simplification of social context;

4


e) Include in the design of projects, the environmental dimensions that
impact the chances of survival of specific forms of traditional arts in
Mindanao;

f) Implement projects in different parts of Mindanao and Sulu based on set
priorities;

g) Monitor and evaluate projects based on priority setting metrics;

h) Represent traditional artists if in negotiation with regional, national and
international entities in matters concerning the staging, circulation and the
use of traditional arts, through partnership with the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts (NCAA) with regard to the Gawad sa Manlilikha
ng Bayan Awards (GAMABA) laureates’ activities;

i) Initiate or engage donor agencies and philanthropists in designing
projects to secure the future of traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu;

j) Engage top caliber scholars, and develop scholars within traditional arts
communities, in writing, publishing and circulating information and
analyses of traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu;

k) Commission and supervise the circulation video and digital products on
traditional arts in Mindanao and Sulu, in ways that can economically
benefit the practitioners;

1) Include design and implement projects or programs that involve entire
communities in ways that assure dignity and the communication of
complexity;

m) Nominate deserving traditional artists to GAMABA Search Committee of
the NCAA ;

n) Support the NCAA-established Schools of Living Tradition (SLT), by
providing evaluation services and educational training modules for
community skills in passing on tradition to their young; and

©) Perform such other duties and responsibilities as may be necessary for the
effective implementation of this Act.

SECTION 7. Board of Trustees. - The governance and policy-making powers
of INSUMINTRA are vested in, and its powers exercised by, the Board of Trustees,
hereinafter referred to as the Board, composed of eleven (11) members as follows:

a) Chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority;
b) Chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts;
©) Secretary of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos;
d) Chairperson of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples;
e) A representative of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao;
f) Executive Director of INSUMINTRA; and
g) Five members of the private sector who are of known probity and who
have professionally studied or practiced traditional arts in Mindanao and
Sulu, or who are graduates of anthropology, education, or social science.
‘The members of the Board coming from the private sector shall be appointed
by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of their respective
organizations.


The Chairperson of the Board shall be elected by the members from among
themselves.

SECTION 8. Powers and Duties. - The Board shall exercise the following
powers and duties:

a) Prepare and adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the
effective discharge of its responsibilities;
Constitute the organizational structure and appoint INSUMINTRA‘s
executive director, assistant executive director, officers and employees;
c) Review INSUMINTRA programs periodically;
d) Receive donations from local or international donors, in cash or in kind,
and appropriate such sum as maybe provided by law for the support of
the (ITAMS) INSUMINTRA; and
Perform such other powers and duties as maybe necessary to carry out its
powers and duties.

b)

e)

SECTION 9. Meetings. - The Board shall meet, preferably at its principal
office, at least once a month to discharge its duties and responsibilities. A meeting of
the Board may be called by the chairperson or upon written request of majority of its
members.

The votes of the majority of the members consisting a quorum are sufficient
for the adoption of any rule, regulation, resolution or decision of the Board.

SECTION 10. Secretariat. - The Board shall organize a secretariat headed by
an executive director.

The Secretariat consists of the following component offices:

a) Office of the Executive Director;
b) Monitoring and Evaluation Office;
©) Field Work Team; and

d) Library and Archives.

‘The Board shall fix its staffing pattern, determine the duties, qualifications,
responsibilities and functions as well as the compensation scheme for the position to
be created upon the recommendation of the executive director. The staffing pattern
shall be approved and prescribed by the Board within one hundred twenty (120)
days from the approval of this Act.

SECTION 11. Functions of the Executive Director, - The executive director

shall exercise the following functions:

a) Prepare the staffing pattern of the INSUMINTRA which includes the
qualifications and compensation of officials and personnel in as may be
necessary for the proper discharge of the functions of INSUMINTRA;

b) Control and supervise the operation and internal administration of the

c) INSUMINTRA in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations;


d) Recommend to the Board such policies and measures which are deemed
necessary for the effective exercise and discharge of the powers and
responsibilities of INSUMINTRA;

e) Submit an annual report to the Board on the status of the programs and
the financial condition of INSUMINTRA, including a recommendation for
its budget for the ensuing year; and

£) Perform such other functions as may vested herein by the Board,

SECTION 12. Appropriations, - The amount necessary for the establishment
of the INSUMINTRA shall be set aside from any available funds of the National
‘Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Thereafter, such sum as may be necessary for
the continued operation of the institute shall be included in the annual General
Appropriations Act.

SECTION 13. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within ninety (90) days
from the approval of this Act, the chairperson of INSUMINTRA shall, in
coordination with the other government agencies mentioned in Section 7 of this Act,
formulate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this
Act.

SECTION 14, Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance,
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation
contrary to or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed,
modified, or amended accordingly.

SECTION 15. Effectivity. - This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,