Under P.D. No. 37 (Creating the Nayong Pilipino Foundation), the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) is mandated to promote, encourage and initiate research and development projects in social sciences and humanities, among others. 

In line with its mandate under Presidential Decree No. 37 to promote, encourage, and initiate research and development projects on social science and humanities, the NPF Research Institute is a knowledge development center that will conduct research on the following fields: Philippine Natural and Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Heritage Tourism and Ecotourism, Tourism Governance, Cultural and Creative Industries, and related areas. The Research Institute will also serve as a think-do-tank on public policies concerning heritage, cultural and creative industries, and tourism. The research outputs are to be produced following professional academic standards and will be implemented in collaboration with partner institutions and professionals.

Knowledge products that may include case studies, manuals, toolkits, multimedia, and online resources will be among the outputs of the NPF Research Institute that will be accessible to the general public and help empower communities. 

One of the ongoing projects of the Research Institute Program is Project Pagsibol, which aims to create case studies that evaluate past and ongoing initiatives conducted by private organizations and public offices, and are related to the aforementioned four research interests. These case studies aim to identify and evaluate methods and practices under the said research interests. This will allow the NPF RI to identify best practices and to recommend their replication in future projects; and conversely, to recommend the discontinuation of less effective and unsustainable methods and practices. 

The creation of knowledge products shall fulfill NPF’s long unrealized research mandate and contribute to the social learning and discourse of the role of cultural heritage for national and local development.