Origins (1887–1900) The National Library of the Philippines traces its beginnings to the establishment of the
Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas (Museum-Library of the Philippines), established by Royal Order No. 689 of the Spanish government on August 12, 1887. It opened on October 24, 1891, at the
Intendencia in
Intramuros, then home of the
Manila Mint (as the
Casa de la Moneda), with around 100 volumes and with both Julian Romero and Benito Perdiguero as director and archivist-librarian, respectively. today observed as the birthdate of both the National Library and the Philippine public library system. In addition, the Philippine Library and Museum was placed under the supervision of the
Department of Justice. However, luckily for library officials, a locked box containing the "crown jewels" of the National Library: the original copies of Rizal's
Noli Me Tangere,
El Filibusterismo and
Mi último adiós, was left intact. Tiburcio Tumaneng, then the chief of the Filipiniana Division, described the event as a happy occasion. Scandal arose in September 1993 when it was discovered that a researcher from the National Historical Institute (now the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines), later identified as Rolando Bayhon, was pilfering rare documents from the library's collections. According to some library employees, the pilfering of historical documents dates back to the 1970s, when President
Ferdinand Marcos began writing a book on Philippine history titled
Tadhana (Destiny), using as references library materials which were subsequently not returned. The chief of the Filipiniana Division at the time, Maria Luisa Moral, who was believed to be involved in the scandal, was dismissed on September 25, This digitization was one of the factors which led to the birth of the Philippine eLibrary, a collaboration between the National Library and the University of the Philippines, the
Department of Science and Technology, the
Department of Agriculture and the
Commission on Higher Education, which was launched on February 4, 2004, as the Philippines' first
digital library. The Philippine President's Room, a section of the Filipiniana Division dedicated to works and documents pertaining to Philippine presidents, was opened on July 7, 2007. On September 26, 2007, the National Library was reorganized into nine divisions per its rationalization plan. In 2010, Republic Act No. 10087 was signed, renaming the National Library to the National Library of the Philippines. ==Building==