Bill 603.

Summary.

The bill declares the Tambor Peligreño Folklore Festival, held in the last week of November in Barrio Bolivar, district of David, province of Chiriquí, part of Panama’s intangible heritage. The declaration aims to promote its cultural expressions and folklore, preserve the historical memory of its songs, drum rhythms and traditional clothing, and pass them on between generations. It creates the Tambor Peligreño Folklore Festival Governing Body (Patronato del Festival Folclórico del Tambor Peligreño) as a nonprofit entity with its own assets, legal personality and administrative autonomy. The Governing Body would organize the festival annually for a minimum of 3 days and a maximum of 5 days, including November 28.

Its objectives would include organizing the celebration, enabling the participation of regional and national folklore groups, preserving cultural expressions, involving public authorities, the private sector, the education sector and civil society, and using the resources it receives solely for the festival’s preservation, celebration, promotion and development. It would include representatives of the Ministry of Culture (Ministerio de Cultura), Tourism Authority (Autoridad de Tursimo), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Authority (Autoridad de la Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa), David Mayor’s Office (Alcaldía de David), David Este Community Board (Junta Comunal de David Este) and Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Tourism of Chiriquí, alongside representatives of the folklore community and the founding families of Barrio Bolivar. Each principal member would have an alternate. Civil society representatives would serve for three years and could be reappointed for one additional term; board offices would be filled by a simple majority vote.

The Governing Body’s functions would include safeguarding the festival’s authenticity with the participation of tradition bearers, preparing and carrying out a safeguarding plan with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism Authority (Autoridad de Turismo) and David Mayor’s Office, publishing an activity calendar, promoting education, coordinating logistics and security with the Municipality of David (Municipio de David), submitting annual reports and establishing working committees. Its assets would comprise acquired or donated property, annual state contributions, inheritances, bequests, and income from investments, services and activities. Donations would be treated as expenses deductible from taxable income when calculating income tax.

The Ministry of Culture would compile a register of tradition bearers and cultural expressions for a cultural inventory. Its Creative Economy Directorate (Dirección de Economía Creativa) and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Authority would promote artists’ work and spaces for crafts, local food and cultural enterprises. The bill also provides for a Special Safeguarding Plan, coverage by state media and the inclusion of the festival in cultural tourism strategies by the Tourism Authority of Panama (Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá). The State would provide annual support worth eighty-three thousand balboas (B/. 83,000.00), subject to budget availability, and the Governing Body would report its expenditure to contributing entities. It would adopt its bylaws and internal regulations within six (6) months following promulgation. The provisions would concern the named cultural, tourism and municipal bodies, as well as tradition bearers, founding families, artisans, cultural entrepreneurs, and the education, food and tourism sectors.