Code of Ethics

Principle No. 1: Stewardship

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that all archaeological resources (i.e., materials and sites, archaeological collections, records and reports) should and must be the responsibility of all archaeologists. This responsibility aims at achieving a long-term conservation and protection of the archaeological record through the inexhaustible promotion and practice of a culture of stewardship. Thus, the archaeologist is always a steward of all archaeological resources. And thus,

1. The archaeologist must and should always give value and importance to presenting archaeological research in a systematic and responsible manner to the public;

2. The archaeologist must and should always support the protection, preservation, and conservation of the terrestrial and underwater archaeological resource base;

3. The archaeologist must and should always accurately, and without undue delay, prepare and submit a copy of his/her archaeological study to the National Museum, which has been mandated by Philippine laws to be the keeper of all Philippine cultural properties;

4. The archaeologist must and should always abide with the objectives of the KAPI and all locally accepted and publicly beneficial cultural resource management programs for archaeology;

5. The archaeologist must and should always comply with laws, rules and regulations of the Philippines relevant to the practice of archaeology. This involves, without negligence, the acquisition of authorizations and/or permits to undertake any form of archaeological undertaking.

Principle No. 2: Accountability

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that responsible archaeological work involves accountability to the public and the community of archaeologists. This accountability involves faithfulness in exhausting all possible means that are legal, culturally acceptable in the Philippine setting, and honest to consult and/or work with all involved sectors in an archaeological undertaking. These undertakings of accountable archaeologists and collaborators and/or benefactors must and should be beneficial to all involved in the undertaking, as well as, and especially, the Filipino public at large. And thus,

1. The archaeologist must develop and execute a systematic work plan, whether it is for research, assessment, or any endeavor that requires archaeological knowledge and skill. This work plan must and should have comprehensive, clear, and transparent objectives. The methods that will be undertaken in the work plan must and should also be comprehensive, clear, and transparent, especially if this involves entering and modifying, in any way, the community and its landscape even if only temporarily. The systematic plan must also take into account, with full understanding of its significance and implications, previous relevant archaeological work of similar topic, area, or interest. And the work plan must and should permit the economical use of the resource base like an excavation site, and/or specimens, and/or scientific equipment of the Philippine archaeology community. Ultimately, all these must remain consistent with the objectives of the work plan and the goals of the Philippine archaeology community;

2. The archaeologist must and should utilize to the best of his/her knowledge, skill, and current physical, social, and financial (as set by readily accessible funding and institutional resources) capability the systematic archaeological work plan. This exercise and use of all and full resources involves the conduct of archaeological explorations, recordings, analyses, and the total curation of materials collections;

3. The archaeologist must and should employ or use an adequate staff, including special lists, to implement an archaeological undertaking. He/she should also employ or use adequate technologies to implement these undertakings. These undertakings also include facilities for the proper curation of specimens and records;

4. The archaeologist must and should understand and recognize all legal, especially national and local government policies and requirements for the conduct of archaeological, social, and environmental work. Therefore, the archaeologist must and should follow and adhere to these policies. This includes the procurement of permits, authorizations, documented consent from all concerned individuals and institutions;

5. The archaeologist must and should consider any possible conflict with other individuals and institutions with similar undertakings. In the event that such conflict is foreseen, then an initiative must and should be taken so that agreeable terms may be met to minimize, if not eliminate any conflict;

6. The archaeologist must and should faithfully keep abreast with the developments in the discipline, especially in his/her own field of specialization. In the event of any archaeological undertaking, the archaeologist must take note of al l previous relevant and/or similar undertaking, whether archaeological in nature or of the nature of another field of discipline with similar and/or somewhat related to the undertaking's objectives and methods;

7. The archaeologist, in the event where his/her undertakings involve or affect cultural, ethnic, or religious groups, must and should properly and fully inform these groups of his/her undertakings. The archaeologist must and should also seek consent to conduct such undertakings, especially if these involve the access of the groups' tangible/intangible property;

8. The archaeologist, when encountering human remains, especially burials, and/or shrines or sacred places, must and should observe good behavior and give due and proper respect before and during the conduct of any archaeological investigation;

9. The archaeologist must and should never exaggerate, mislead, or give unwarranted public pronouncements about matters pertaining to archaeology, especially if it is about archaeological data and knowledge, and especially if this encourages, in any way, others to engage in illegal, immoral, and/or unethical activity, or to undertake any activity that will cause them to unknowingly use such false, misinterpreted, or exaggerated data or knowledge;

10. The archaeologist, must and should never commit, participate, or associate himself/herself in any illegal, immoral, and/or unethical practice or behavior in any archaeological undertaking. He/she must and should also never knowingly permit the use of his/her name for any illegal, immoral, and/or unethical archaeological undertaking, or any activity that involves topics, areas, or interest pertaining to or associated with archaeology.

11. The archaeologist must and should be responsible for being completely knowledgeable, well-informed, and fully conversant before making pronouncements pertaining to archaeology;

12. The archaeologist must and should always without bias or contempt, report all and any knowledge of any forms of violations of this Code of Ethics to the proper authorities.

Principle No. 3: Commercialization of Data, Artifacts, and the Practice of Archaeology

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that the commercialization of artifacts from archaeological sites, as when these objects are sold for profit or exploited for personal enjoyment, poses a threat to the preservation of archaeological sites, artifacts, and all other associated components vital to understanding the archaeological record situated within the jurisdiction of the Philippines. Thus, the archaeologists must and should always avoid acts that promote the commercialization of artifacts and sites, contrary to law and the spirit of this document. In presenting the archaeological data for the benefit of public knowledge, the archaeologist must and should also always consider the risk of turning these archaeological resources into exploitable commodities. Therefore,

1. The archaeologist must and should always follow all existing international and national guidelines implemented to prevent the illicit trade of cultural property;

2. The archaeologist must and should always, in participating in commercial archaeological undertakings, be first recognized as a member of the KAPI who is actively practicing archaeology and in good standing with the community of archaeologists.

Principle No. 4: Public Education and Outreach

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas, Inc. (KAPI) recognizes that to preserve archaeological resources and develop the field of Philippine archaeology, archaeologists must and should develop a responsible attitude towards educating the public, building networks that engage the public who is interested in archaeology, and supporting efforts for public education and outreach. Linkages include those students and teachers wishing to learn; ethnic, religious and sectoral groups that have a special regard for cultural heritage; law makers and government officials, who have the power to create and implement policies affecting the nation's archaeological resources; the media, who have the means to disseminate and popularize information; and the general public. Cooperative efforts must and should be directed towards: (1) public participation in the stewardship of the country's archaeological resources; (2) highlighting the role and ways of archaeology in gaining understanding and appreciation of Philippine society and culture; and (3) producing valid interpretations from rigid studies, testing, and discourse of the Filipino past through archaeology. Thus,

1. The archaeologist must and should always be sensitive and respectful of a community's legitimate concern for their significant cultural resources that they study during any archaeological undertaking;

2. The archaeologist must and should always responsibly promote archaeology for the benefit of the public;

3. The archaeologist must and should always support institutions and organizations that aim to further develop archaeology in the Philippines without bias or agenda of personal gain;

4. The archaeologist must and should· always be active in public advocacy with private and public institutions on the legislative and national level;

5. The archaeologist must and should always include archaeological ethics in the education of professional archaeologists and the public;

6. The archaeologist must and should always promote its archaeological ethics to all visiting foreign scholars and researchers engaged in archaeological undertakings or those of similar objective and nature in the Philippines.

Principle No. 5: Intellectual Property

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that all information and data gathered from archaeological undertakings must and should never be confined to individual ownership or personal possession but must and should always be made available to other researchers interested in knowing the materials and documents produced by archaeological undertakings. The archaeologist must and should always make such data as unpublished records and documents available only on the premise of a valid objective that does not carry any legal impediments. Thus,

1. The archaeologist must and should always acknowledge the people who provided assistance in his/her archaeological undertaking;

2. The archaeologist must and should always properly and fully recognize other's work, especially if their work is directly affecting, or may have implications on his/her own undertakings;

3. The archaeologist must and should never in any circumstance and medium plagiarize;

4. The archaeologist must and should never reject a valid request to make available researched data from a colleague, student, and/or researcher of archaeology, or of any associated and/or related discipline. And thus, must and should assist, in the best of his capabilities and resources, the requesting individual/group, provided that conditions are reasonable;

5. The archaeologist must and should always be professional and respect the intellectual property rights of all researcher's and scholar's researches and publications, whether archaeological or of any other discipline that he/she may use in any way in his/her own archaeological undertaking;

6. The archaeologist must and should always give reasonable consideration and respect to other archaeologists and researchers in associated and/or related disciplines with the same research interests, sites, data and collections.

Principle No. 6: Public Reporting and Publication

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that an archaeologist has a responsibility to present, through appropriate means such as publications and reports at professional meetings, substantive knowledge gained from archaeological investigations, including advancements in theory and method, to different audiences within a realistic time frame. The archaeologist must and should always store all research data, documents and materials in a properly equipped, safe, and secure facility. In this respect, the archaeologists must and should always consider the importance of preserving and protecting archaeological sites when disclosing and disseminating information about their nature and location. Thus,

1. The archaeologist must and should always honor requests from qualified researchers, in archaeology and associated disciplines, for information about sites, areas, collections, or data when there is a mutual or potential research concern that does not conflict with the researcher's principal right to publish or perform his/her other professional responsibilities;

2. The archaeologist must and should always respect varying opinions and ideas made by other archaeologists and scholars from associated and/or related disciplines. And thus, he/she must and should always participate ·in constructive discussion;

3. The archaeologist, on matters concerning contracted use of his/her knowledge and skill, must and should never be restricted when making his/her own interpretations or conclusions in reports. The archaeologist must and should also never be prohibited from utilizing data even after completion of his/her contractual obligations;

4. The archaeologists must and should always have a responsibility to reasonably accommodate requests for information from mass media.

Principle No. 7: Records and Preservation

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that the archaeologist must and should always work for the preservation and conservation of archaeological materials, data, records, and reports. This preservation and conservation involve the long-term access of all these. Therefore, the archaeologist must and should always encourage the responsible and careful use and/or contact with archaeological materials among other archaeologists, students of archaeology, researchers, and anyone who is in close contact with archaeological institutions, materials, undertakings, and the like. This preservation and conservation of such must and should always be practiced, especially in situations where it is concerned with the in situ archaeological record, and beyond which this in situ record was removed and incorporated into archaeological collections, records, and reports. As such, minimal standards during the conduct of archaeological undertakings must and should be met like:

1. The archaeologist, when collecting specimens, must and should always have a system of recording and identifying proveniences that is easily understood and/or compliant with current practice in Philippine archaeology;

2. The archaeologist, when there are uncollected entities like environmental and/or cultural features including depositional profiles and those similar, must and should always fully and accurately record these with appropriate standardized, easily understood, and/or currently accepted methods by Philippine archaeology;

3. The archaeologist must and should always fully, clearly, and comprehensively describe the methods that he/she used in the collection, study, and/or curation of archaeological data, specimen, records, and the like. This includes the clear, comprehensive, and full description of stratigraphic data, artefact associations, and/or all cultural and environmental features;

4. The archaeologist must and should always maintain records, notes, and annotations that are clear and fully intelligible to all, especially other archaeologists and entities involved in similar works and/or fields of interest. In the event that the archaeologist uses terminology that is lacking commonly held referents then he/she must and should always include a full, clear, and comprehensive description and explanation of these terminology;

5. The archaeologist must and should always consider the interest of other researchers and workers in similar and/or associated fields. And this will involve the maintenance and recording of all data that may be encountered and by-passed during the course of any archaeological undertaking that may not be fully relevant to a particular project objective, but that is fully relevant for other future work;

6. The archaeologist must and should always take extra caution in preserving correlations between specimens, data, and archaeological knowledge during accessioning, analyses, and storage of these. The archaeologist must and should always do this so that provenance, contextual relationships, and the like are never confused or distorted;

7. The archaeologist must and should always deposit specimen, researches, records, and other cultural property and/or copies of documents pertaining to cultural properties and/or materials of cultural, scientific, and educational value to the proper institution, which has been promulgated by law to be the National Museum of the Philippines, which is capable of handling, preserving, conserving, and storing such materials, data, and the like unless proper agreements and contracts are made that may authorize other capable institutions to take responsibility of these materials for a given time.

Principle No. 8: Training and Resources

The Katipunan Arkeologist ng Pilipinas (KAPI) recognizes that archaeologists must and should have proper education, training, experience, facilities and other support necessary to conduct any program of research they initiate in a manner consistent with the foregoing principles and contemporary standards of the professional practice of archaeology. They should consistently assess their qualifications for the demands of the project and minimize inadequacies by acquiring additional expertise by bringing in associates with the proper qualifications, or by modifying the scope of the project.