Are PH national treasures insured?

Contrary to what his critics would have us believe, National Archives Director Ino Manalo was not fiddling like Nero as their Binondo office burned a few days ago. The blaze began two buildings away, in the Land Management Bureau, and spread to the Juan Luna building that housed the Archives Administration. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties, human or documentary.

But the water damage was inevitable. Over 50 million historical documents from the Spanish period that people were concerned about are stored elsewhere, together with digital, microfilm, and photocopies open to researchers. This should not be seen as a happy ending, but a wake-up call on the heritage at risk in our cultural institutions. Nature is beyond our control. Damage from typhoon, earthquake, tsunami and the like is described in insurance claims as acts of God, but what can we do to contain or minimize heritage loss?

The recent fire at the National Archives should make us ask if our heritage is insured, and for how much. Premiums being high, I presume there is blanket insurance that covers everything from historical documents to the paper clips on a clerk’s desk. To claim a full amount everything must be lost, but then some objects need special individual insurance. For example, the National Library building and its contents are surely insured, but has individual insurance been secured for the original manuscripts of “Noli Me Tangere,” “El Filibusterismo” and “Mi Ultimo Adios”? What about the declaration of independence, or the manuscript copy of Julian Felipe’s march that has since become our national anthem? With the many books and manuscripts in the Library, what should be stored separately in special vaults or evacuated first during a fire or earthquake? The National Museum building and its contents are insured, but has separate cover been made for iconic pieces like: Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium,” the Manunggul Jar, the Calatagan Pot, the Bolinao Skull, the remains of the Tabon, Callao and Rizal men—all declared national treasures? Among the millions of Spanish documents in the custody of the National Archives, what are the most important elevated to the status of Important Cultural Property?

The National Archives fire draws our attention to precious historical documents and relics that have been lured out of private collections and into the art and antiques market by way of auction. Next week, mixed with the usual auction house darlings (Fernando Amorsolo, Fernando Zobel, BenCab, Jose Joya, John Santos, Annie Cabigting, et al.) is a bas relief carved into Philippine hardwood depicting a man lifting weights. It was made by Jose Rizal during his Dapitan exile (1892-1896).

The work resembles an oversize platter, something you would normally serve a lechon  on, except that this one has been heralded by auction-house hype as a “national treasure.” The work is unsigned, but is supported by documentation of Rizal’s art works made by the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission in 1961. It comes with impeccable provenance, having been preserved by Rizal’s favorite sister Narcisa and her descendants for over a century. It is not as well-known as other Dapitan works that were widely reproduced in 1961: “Buglay,” depicting a woman cutting grass; “Mother’s Revenge,” depicting a dog vainly biting into the tough hide of a crocodile that has a yelping puppy in its mouth; “Josephine Bracken Sleeping,” a rather erotic depiction of Rizal’s lover naked under the bed sheets; or “Jabali” (Wild Boar), sold in a previous auction for around P15 million.

This bas relief is remarkable because it displays one of Rizal’s many artistic talents and suggests that the National Hero pumped iron. Based on the measurements of his extant clothing, Rizal had a perfect V-shaped back and proportions that would put modern gym-goers to shame.

Many well-intentioned calls on social media for the cultural agencies to step in should be tempered by knowledge of government regulations that don’t allow expenses not in the annual budget approved by Congress and released by the budget department. Furthermore, the Commission on Audit doesn’t allow purchases at auctions, leaving these to the care of the private sector that takes responsibility as stewards of our heritage.

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