The National Museum, 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 our unique to the cultural heritage of the Filipino people and the natural history of the Philippines. The mandate is to establish, manage, and develop museums, including the National Museum Complex and the National Planetarium in Manila, as well as regional museums in key locations around the country. Currently, the National Museum national network comprise nineteen regional, branch and site museums throughout the archipelago.

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, and geology and paleontology). It also 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. The Museum disseminates appreciation of its collections and research findings, along with technical and museological skills and knowledge, through exhibitions, publications, educational programs, training, outreach, technical assistance, and other public programs.

The National Museum also implements and serves as a regulatory and enforcement agency of the Government with respect to a series of cultural laws, and is responsible for various culturally significant properties, sites and reservations throughout the country. It is the lead agency in the official commemoration of Museums and Galleries Month, which is the month of October, every year.