The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) is bolstering the number of its component museums in Mindanao.

NMP currently administers four museums in the southern island cluster — an area museum in Jolo in the archipelagic province of Sulu, and the regional museums in Zamboanga City in Zamboanga Peninsula, in Butuan City in the region of Caraga, and in Davao City in southeastern Mindanao, which formally opened on 1 December 2024.

In about two years, NMP expects to add two more in the province of South Cotabato in the southern part of central Mindanao — one in the capital city of Koronadal and another in the municipality of Lake Sebu in the western part of the province.

For Koronadal, officials from the city government and NMP have finalized the location of the planned museum in September 2024. The Sangguniang Panlungsod Resolution No. 171, spearheaded by city councilors John Rey P. Rodriguez and Maria Ester M. Catorce, was passed on 1 October, supporting the mayor in signing a deed of usufruct, which grants NMP the use of the old city hall building and grounds, which cover 9,851 square meters on General Paulino Santos Drive in Barangay Zone 2, for 25 years. The building currently houses the city library and pasalubong shop.

The usufruct agreement was signed by NMP and the city government on 4 October at the lobby of Koronadal City Hall, the highlight of the “Manggad Paranublion: Celebration of Museum and Galleries Month in Koronadal,” by Koronadal mayor Eliordo U. Ogena, Catorce, NMP director general Jeremy Barns, and Arvin Manuel Villalon, NMP Director for Mindanao and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Subcommission for the Arts commissioner.

Villalon narrated how the ideas for establishing museums in Koronadal and Lake Sebu came up and the challenges that he and Carlo Ebeo, a member of NMP Board of Trustees and head of the NCCA Subcommission on Cultural Dissemination, faced. He also talked about the values that a museum brings to a place, commending Koronadal City for their warm reception.

Catorce considered the establishment of the museum a major development for the city, saying that it “indicates that the City of Koronadal values the treasures, the sacrifices and hardships endured by our ancestors to get us to where we are today.”

“Without preservation, ang mga aral po na nakalimbag sa kasaysayan ay nanganganib na mawala (the lessons recorded in history are in danger of vanishing), leaving future generations ill-equipped to learn from the successes and the mistakes of the past. Ang pagpapabaya po sa responsibilidad na ito ay maaring humantong sa (The neglect of this responsibility may lead to) cultural homogenization kung saan ang mga natatanging pagkakakilanlan at kasaysayan ay matatabunan o mabubura (where distinct culture and history will be overlooked or erased) resulting in the loss of diversity and richness in human experience,” she said.

Koronadal City currently operates the South Cotabato Community Museum, located at the third floor of the South Cotabato Gymnasium and Cultural Center, which reopened on 26 February 2024 after years of rehabilitation.

Aside from Koronadal City, NMP is also planning to open its first community museum in the town of Lake Sebu. The upland municipality is known for its lake and as a traditional home of the indigenous T’boli people as well as of the Obo Manobo.

According to Villalon, the National Museum of the Philippines-Lake Sebu will be managed by the community. The Tourism Lodge, which is located by the shore of the lake and is owned by the local government, will be rehabilitated, restored, and transformed into the planned museum.

The usufruct agreement was signed on 5 October, during Dayaw: The Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ Festival, NCCA’s celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Month which was hosted that year by the municipal government of Lake Sebu.

The signing was led by Barns and Lake Sebu mayor Remie M. Unggol in the presence of Villalon, Ebeo, NCCA Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts head and Lake Sebu resident Reden S. Ulo, municipal tourism officer Jennifer Tupas, South Cotabato provincial tourism officer Argie Asaria, and participants and attendees of the festival.

“It is really an honor for us to do this in front of all the delegates of indigenous people groups from all over the country because our indigenous museum dito sa (here in) Lake Sebu is really supposed to be tailor-fit for a community like this, tailor-fit to be a community-based museum,” Barns said. “We have existing museums in Kiangan, Ifugao and in Kabayan, Benguet, that have the potential to really be community-based. So, we will be attempting that — to move from a national government branch museum to something that comes from the community. And here in Lake Sebu, it will be our pilot for Mindanao as well.”

He further said, “So, we want to make a commitment to upholding the involvement, participation, origination from indigenous people community, and to commit to helping all the IP communities throughout the country to preserve, protect and promote their cultural heritage.”

Villalon narrated the conception of the museum, led by him, Ebeo and Ulo. The idea for the museum crystallized and the location was identified when they met during Lake Sebu’s touristic and cultural festival, the Helobung Festival, in May 2024.

Lake Sebu is known as a tourist destination as well as a cultural center in the region. The T’boli Museum in the sitio of Tokufo in the barangay of Poblacion, showcases local culture, while the Santa Cruz Mission School in the sitio of Lem-ehek has been a pioneer in the research and safeguarding of T’boli cultural heritage. The town is home to four recipients of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or Order of the National Living Treasures Award, which is the state’s highest honor for traditional and folk artists, artisans, craftspersons and practitioners — the late textile weaver Lang Dulay, textile weaver Barbara Ofong, chanter and musician Rosie Sula, and maker of brass crafts Bundos Fara, who are all T’boli.