President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11771 or An Act Establishing the Cagayan de Oro City Cultural Center and Museum in Cagayan de Oro City.
The law was authored by deputy speaker and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.
“I am very thankful to President Duterte for acting upon this measure that I authored and filed in 2021. This will primarily help the City of Cagayan de Oro in promoting its culture and the arts not only among Kagay-anons, but also visitors from all over the world,” Rodriguez stated.
Under the new law, the cultural center and museum shall serve as the “institutional medium for the collection, preservation, and enhancement of the cultural, artistic, archeological, social, historical and religious heritage of the city and its environs.”
In particular, the CDO cultural center and museum shall:
a. Compile musical notes and lyrics of Higaonon and other tribes’ ancestral songs, traditional songs and ballads, and modern and contemporary music compositions, and collect samples of musical instruments of local origin, design, and creation;
b. Publish and disseminate CDO’s literary works, epics, stories, and historical accounts;
c. Compile CDO’s literature, film, or audio-visual recordings of cultural performances in music, dance, oral literature, and festival celebration;
d. Compile CDO’s epigrams, proverbs, legends, and the origin, history and etymology of the city, its words, names of barangays, and other places of interests and their respective histories;
e. Gather and document CDO’s religious practices and traditions, and the
background and origin of the local fiestas and festivals;
f. Compile photographs of and showcase by appropriate exhibits, local landmarks, historical sites and scenic views, and acquire and display varied range of local arts and artifacts;
g. Gather specimens of archaeological findings, collect stones, rocks, and other geological materials, and preserve by appropriate methods samples of flora and fauna indigenous to the city and its environs;
h. Conduct performances on local music, dances, arts, literary works, epics, stories, historical accounts and legends; and
i. Carry out any other relevant and appropriate activities.
The CDO cultural center will be supervised through the collaborative effort of the City Government of Cagayan de Oro and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) with its affiliated cultural agencies, academic, and private partners.
The law also mandates the LGU-CDO to provide the land necessary for the construction or establishment, or both, of the main venue and ancillary offices and facilities of the cultural center and museum.
The budget to implement the act shall be taken from the current annual budget of NCAA. The funds necessary of its continued implementation in the succeeding years will be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Within 60 days from the effectivity of the law, the NCAA, LGU-CDO, concerned government agencies and private stakeholders shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of the act.
