The National Museum of the Philippines, a Trust of the Government, is an educational, scientific and cultural institution that acquires, documents, preserves, exhibits, and fosters scholarly study and public appreciation of works of art, specimens, and cultural and historical artifacts representative of the unique cultural heritage of the Filipino people and the natural history of the Philippines. It is mandated to establish, manage and develop museums comprising the National Museum Complex and the National Planetarium in Manila, as well as regional museums in key locations around the country.

The National Museum of the Philippines manages and develops the national reference collections in the areas of cultural heritage (fine arts, anthropology, and archaeology) and natural history (botany, zoology, geology, and paleontology) and carries out permanent research programs in biodiversity, geological history, human origins, pre-historical and historical archaeology, maritime and underwater cultural heritage, ethnology, art history, and moveable and immoveable cultural properties.