[2] It was passed in response to the 2000 demolition of the Manila Jai Alai Building.
A house that has significant importance to the Filipino culture is declared to be a "Heritage House" by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), previously known as the National Historical Institute.
[2] Historical markers are placed on the houses by the commission to indicate their significance,[5] Ancestral homes that have figured in an historic event, house such as the Bonifacio Trial House in Maragondon, Cavite,[6] or houses of national heroes of the Philippines like the Juan Luna Shrine[7] in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, are included among the categories "National Shrines" or "National Historical Landmarks".
[4][8] The act also requires: The act defines "cultural property" as "all products of human creativity by which a people and a nation reveal their identity, including churches, mosques and other places of religious worship, schools and natural history specimens and sites, whether public or privately-owned, movable or immovable, and tangible or intangible."
[10] The citizen retains the ownership of the house; the government is only declaring the heritage value of the structure and providing funding for its protection and preservation.