Tau't Batu PetroglyphsTau't Batu Petroglyphs is a National Cultural Treasure, National Museum located at Quezon, Palawan, Region IV-B.
Tau’t Batu Petroglyphs – drawn on the cave wall of the Ugpay Cave, the Tau’t Batu Petroglyphs consists of anthropomorphic drawings in charcoal, the practice of which dates back to ancient times. The arrangement of the drawings belongs to one basic template. This consists of a circular head over a rectangular or V-shaped trunk from which upper and lower limbs spread. Adult males, females and their offspring, as well as spirits and ghosts of the forest are depicted in the drawings. Similarities to both the Angono Petroglyphs in Rizal province and the petroglyphs in Batu Putih Caves, South Sarawak, suggests a wide spread culture complex that survived through millennia.
MALACAÑANG
MANILA
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1499
AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 260 TO INCLUDE THE PETROGLYPHS IN THE CAVES AT THE TAO’T-BATO AREA IN BARANGAY RANSANG, QUEZON, PALAWAN.
WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 260 preserves and develops cultural structures that will record the cultural development of the country;
WHEREAS, in the habitation caves of the newly discovered Tao’t-Bato in Barangay Ransang, Quezon, Palawan, some type of drawings were found which are obviously the handwork of men in times too ancient to be recalled by any living member of the tribe;
WHEREAS, these drawings are comparable with those discovered in the caves of Sarawak, Borneo, and those at Angono, Rizal, a fact which indicated a possible cultural continuity or affinity that ought to be preserved.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order that the drawings on the walls of the caves in the Tao’t-Bato area in Barangay Ransang, Quezon, Palawan, should be preserved as a cultural treasure pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 260.
This Decree shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.
(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the Prime Minister:
(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
Presidential Assistant