Republic Act No. 4165: An act creating the national commission on culture and providing funds therefor.

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4165

AN ACT CREATING THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON CULTURE AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR.

Section 1

In order to implement and carry out effectively the Constitutional provision that arts and letters shall be under the patronage of the state, there is hereby created a National Commission on Culture, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, to be composed of a Commissioner, and fourteen (14) members, who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.

In the appointment of the members of the Commission, every form of Philippine arts and letters, namely: music, drama, painting, sculpture, literature, and the dance, shall have two representatives each and the remaining two members shall represent the public who shall be chosen from those known for their love and devotion to arts and letters.

The Commissioner shall be the chairman and executive officer of the Commission and shall serve for a term of six (6) years with a compensation of nine thousand pesos per annum.

The members of the Commission shall serve for a term of six years and shall receive a per diem of fifty pesos for actual attendance of the meeting of the Commission but not to exceed five hundred pesos a month: Provided, That the first seven members to be appointed under this Act, of each representative group, shall serve for a term of three (3) years and the other seven (7), for a term of six (6) years.

After the Commissioner or any member of the Commission shall have serve his full term, he shall not be reappointed except after a period of three (3) years and in the event that a vacancy occurs by reason of expiration of the term of the Commissioner or member, there will be no holdover.

For administrative purposes, the Commission shall be under the supervision of the President of the Philippines.

Section 2

The Commission shall have the following powers and functions:

1.To establish an integrated and coordinated national policy on culture;

2.To coordinate the activities of all the cultural groups;

3.To formulate and implement a national cultural development and promotions program;

4.To promote and encourage foreign culture exchanges to enhance the international prestige of the Philippines.

5.To provide scholarships and travel grants to deserving talents in arts and letters.

6.To receive and accept donations and other conveyance by gratuitous title of funds, materials, or services for its general use in the furtherance of its program, or for administration purposes;

7.To regulate, to manage, or to provide for the sending abroad of local artists, whether as individual or performing groups, for the purpose of exhibitions and performances of their talents;

8.To regulate, to manage or to promote, the entry into the country of artists of accepted integrity for the exhibition and performance of their talent;

9.To extend recognition and accreditation to art and cultural groups that are or may hereinafter be organized;

10.To extend short-term loans to legitimate cultural groups undertaking preparations for cultural activities in consonance with the purpose of this Act, under such terms and conditions that may be provided by the Commission;

11.To develop in our people an intensified awareness of our own culture and its historical and contemporary implication, with accent on what we have naturally assimilated, and what we can creatively express;

12.To awaken a new consciousness of, and define a new orientation towards, our own culture, by emphasizing the search for knowledge of, and the growth of appreciation for, the genuinely creative rather than the merely imitative, as well as the native and indigenous, rather than, but not exclusive of, the imported or foreign elements and components of our material and artistic culture;

13.To stimulate interest in cultural pursuits and activities among our people; to cultivate and enhance public appreciation of distinctive Philippine arts in their various manifestations; to encourage original literary and artistic production along higher standards and towards loftier goals; to create wider opportunities for individual and national self expression in the cultural sphere; and to fill popular cultural needs in various forms and in a manner to fit the varying requirements of the young and the old alike and of the different levels of our society;

14.To arrange for or encourage the organization or staging of periodic competitions, exhibitions and performance, in different parts of the country, both for public benefit and for the discovery, development and display of individual talents, group initiative and accomplishments, and activities conducive to making literary and artistic pursuits richly rewarding;

15.To organize a program of research and training and help establish workshops with a view to the revival of traditional or distinctively Philippine Arts and crafts and to make use of and extend assistance to such institutions as may now be engaged in pioneering work or as may be best qualified to participate in such program in order to provide training and laboratory facilities for both amateurs and professionals engaged in creative literary and artistic endeavors;

16.To call upon different agencies of the government for such assistance and service as it may require in the discharge of its responsibility.

17.To promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the desired objectives of this Act.

Section 3

The Commission shall be authorized to organize an administrative and research staff, to be headed by an executive secretary, and to fix the qualifications and requirements for the positions to be created and their corresponding salaries. The Commission shall appoint the executive secretary upon nomination by the Chairman and the Chairman shall appoint the rest of the personnel that may be deemed necessary to carry out the work of the organization, subject to the approval of the Commission. Not more than thirty per cent of the funds available to the Commission, at the time an annual budget as prepared, shall be devoted to administrative purposes.

Section 4

It shall be the first duty of the Commission, within three months after having been officially constituted and properly staffed, to prepare, adopt and implement a short-range program of activities that is responsive to the immediate needs of the country and in support of existing programs in other cultural and international relations promotion fields; and within six months, a long-range program to cover an initial program of at least three years, which shall be subject to review and necessary revision at the end of every year.

Section 5

In the implementation of the programs that it may adopt, the Commission shall, supplementary to its own undertaking and activities, enlist the cooperation of all such other institutions as may be in a position to assist in its task; assign cultural projects and mission and make available the necessary funds for the purpose to enable them to undertake their assigned projects and activities; and provide for supervision and close liaison.

Section 6

The sum of one million five hundred thousand pesos is hereby appropriated out of any funds not otherwise appropriated in the National Treasury to be made available upon the approval of this Act to enable the Commission to carry out its functions under this Act.

Section 7

All public funds appropriated under Republic Act Numbered One thousand three hundred seventy and Republic Act Numbered Three thousand forty-two, as aid to the Music Promotion Foundation, are hereby transferred to the Commission: Provided, That the sum of two hundred thousand pesos shall continue to be appropriated as aid to the foundation: And provided, finally, That the sum of two hundred thousand pesos appropriated under Republic Act Numbered Three thousand forty-two as aid to any Filipino cultural group engaged in the study and in the dissemination of Filipino folk arts, music, and dances, shall now be appropriated to include music, drama, painting, sculpture, dance and literature under the condition that such aid shall be limited only to the necessary transportation and subsistence expenses from and to the Philippines and overseas transportation from one continent to another as may be necessary.

Section 8

All donations, contributions, subsidies or aid which from time to time may be made to the Commission shall be considered allowable deductions on the income of donors or givers for income tax purposes.

Section 9

For the permanent support of the Commission, the equivalent of five (5%) per centum of the total annual collections of all taxes on amusement is hereby set aside and appropriated for the yearly maintenance and support of the Commission.

Section 10

All laws, executive orders, rules and regulations contrary to the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 11

If any part or section of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional, such declaration shall not invalidate the other provisions thereof.

Section 12

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: August 4, 1964

For information and research only, and not legal advice. This text may not reflect later amendments. For certified copies, refer to the Official Gazette or the issuing agency.

In plain language