Makati's Ayala Museum has come away with two honours from the first edition of the Philippines' Ang Museo awards, presented by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines. The ceremony took place on 22 October 2026 at the National Museum of Natural History in Manila, in an event created to recognise lasting contributions to the country's museum landscape.

The museum's permanent display Gold of Ancestors: Pre-Colonial Treasures of the Philippines took the prize for Permanent Exhibition of the Year, formally called the Gawad sa Pamanang Tanghal, along with a certificate of merit. Curated by Florina Capistrano-Baker, the show gathers more than 1,000 pre-colonial gold objects assembled by Leandro and Cecilia Locsin. Jurors singled it out for the care taken in its archaeology and conservation, qualities that turn a glittering collection into a credible record of early Philippine craft and trade.

A second honour went to the museum's temporary showcase Splendor: Juan Luna, Painter as Hero, devoted to the nineteenth-century painter. Together the two prizes pair the museum's deep past with its more recent history: one celebrates objects made centuries before Spanish colonisation, the other a canonical figure of the colonial era who became a national hero through painting.

The double win also underlines the museum's unusual position in Manila's cultural scene. Founded as a museum of Philippine history and iconography, it combines a permanent historical narrative with rotating exhibitions, and the awards recognise both sides of that work at once. For visitors, the practical upshot is simple: the gold display that won the top permanent prize remains on view in Makati, while the Luna recognition adds weight to a show that places a single artist's career inside a much larger national story.