The Senate approved on third reading the proposal to establish the CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY CULTURAL CENTER AND MUSEUM. It is contained in House Bill No. 8287 authored by deputy speaker and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

Under the bill, the facility shall serve as the “institutional medium for the protection, preservation, presentation and promotion of the cultural, artistic, archaeological, social, historical, religious and philosophical heritage of Cagayan de Oro City and its people in view of the richness of their legacies and of their relevance to their contemporary and future aspirations.”

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; [and]

h. Conduct performances on local music, dances, arts, literary works, epics, stories, historical accounts and legends.

The CDO cultural center and museum will be established and 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 bill 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 the cultural center and museum.

The NCCA shall include in its annual approprations the budget needed to implement this law.

The proposed measure has been transmitted to Malacanang to be signed  into law by President Rodrigo Duterte. (PR)