INTRODUCTION
For a long, long time, the National Museum had been “squatting” in various buildings and moving from one place to another.

All that has come to an end. As one of the centerpieces of this year’s Philippine centennial celebrations, we have provided the National Museum not one but three buildings it can call its own — this former Finance Building, the Tourism Building across the Agrifina circle, and the Old Congress Building on P. Burgos Street.

We have finally given the treasures of our cultural heritage the respect due them and our people the showcase of our patrimony and legacies from our heroic past.

I consider all this as one of the most precious and meaningful events of our Centennial Celebration. This has been realized with the full support and participation of our private sector, and for which I express our deep gratitude on behalf of our government and people.

This heritage manifests the achievements of our forefathers in their struggles with nature, the environment and our colonial masters. It, therefore, showcases the creativity, the fortitude, the perseverance and the patriotism that have gone into the making of the Filipino character and our national identity.
HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
The National Museum which began in 1901 as the Insular Museum of Ethnography, Natural History and Commerce, and custodian of our heritage had always been in need of a decent home.

In January 1996, I created a presidential committee to oversee the rehabilitation of the National Museum complex. As early as October 1996, I gave instructions for the eventual turnover of the Finance and Tourism Buildings to the National Museum.

In 1996 also, the Senate vacated its chambers in the same Old Congress Building, which move paved the way for the building’s turnover to the National Museum.

One of the last bills I signed into law this year, on February 12, 1998, was Republic Act 8492, establishing a New National Museum System and converting the National Museum into a “Trust of Government”, making it independent and autonomous, much like a chartered public corporation.

The new law places the museum under private sector’s control and encourages private sector participation in its development through philanthropies and public donations. Best of all, the law encourages progressive ideas and opens the door for a professional and innovative museum staff that could make this institution world class.

While these three buildings within this neighborhood will form the heart of the National Museum System, we have really been developing a network of museums in key cities and towns nationwide which is already netted and interacting with cultural centers around the world.

The National Museum of the Filipino People, which we open tonight, will house the archaeology, anthropology, and eventually, social history collections.

The Executive House (Old Congress Building) will be the refurbished National Museum of Art to be formally opened in 2001 on the occasion of the National Museum’s centennial.

And the Tourism Building will be the National Museum of Nature to be fully opened to the public in 2003.

All three edifices are being renovated with state-of-the-art technology in environment control, exhibition presentation, laboratory preservation, and artifact storage and filing. As world-class museum buildings, they meet the international standards for hosting traveling exhibitions, and will be the first facilities in the Philippines with the capacity to display the finest heritage collections from around the world.
FIRST PERMANENT EXHIBITS
Tonight’s inauguration of the National Museum of the Filipino people, as part of the grand celebration of the Philippine Centennial, is enhanced by its outstanding initial exhibits.

Its first permanent exhibit is “The Story of the Filipino People” that provides a thematic story-telling display of the museum’s anthropology and archaeology collections. Visitors may walk through pre-history where each historical period is done in settings evocative of the environments in which cultural objects were first used. The exhibit will culminate with a multimedia show celebrating the Philippine Revolution and the subsequent achievements of our republic and independence of our people.

Also on display here are the “Treasures of San Diego”, archaeological finds from a Spanish galleon sank off the waters of Batangas 400 years ago. The “San Diego” has come back home after touring Paris, Madrid, New York and Berlin for the past four years. Salvaged from the ocean’s floor, with assistance from the government of the Republic of France, the San Diego’s treasures have now been returned to the Philippines for permanent exhibition.
CLOSING
The National Museum has survived war, calamity and neglect through all these years. With the new National Museum System in place, I am certain it will now be able not only to fulfill its huge responsibility of protecting and exhibiting the country’s heritage but also to showcase to the world the achievements of our race.

I challenge the National Museum to do its best and to exert the kind of leadership in the cultural front called for by the challenges of our time.

I now endorse the enhancement of the National Museum to the Estrada administration and enjoin our good benefactors and donors to maintain the fruitful partnership of government and civil society.

Mabuhay ang ating National Museum!

Mabuhay ang Sentenaryo ng ating Kalayaan!

Mabuhay ang Republika ng Pilipinas!

Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat!