Church panels from Boljoon, Cebu
CEBU CITY 鈥� The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) has promised to return in April the four 19th-century pulpit panels that were reportedly taken from a church in Boljoon town, Cebu during the 1980s.
NMP director general Jeremy Barns appeared before Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on 聽Feb. 25, to relay the matter.
The exact date for the official turnover was not announced yet.
鈥淲e really want to give them (pulpit panels) back to the Archdiocese of Cebu. (We want to) return them to the church of Boljoon,鈥� Barns said.
He apologized to Garcia, who in January, revealed plans to sue the NMP for not promptly returning the pulpit panels to Cebu.
鈥淚 really want to assure you, ma鈥檃m, that I鈥檝e been just as stressed and upset over this situation over the past year. I apologize for that. We鈥檝e worked hard toward the same goal鈥攔estoring this heritage to Cebu鈥攁nd I regret any upset this may have caused you,鈥� Barns told the governor.
The panels, which the NMP earlier received from private collectors Edwin and Aileen Bautista, were part of the pulpit of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santisima in Boljoon, south Cebu, and had been reported lost for a long time.
They feature carved images of Saint Augustine of Hippo, the spiritual father of the Augustinian Order that established the parish over 400 years ago, those of St. Leo the Great, St. Thomas of Villanueva, St. Ambrose of Milan, and St. Gregory the Great.
The manner the images were taken from the church remained a mystery.
Garcia, in a report released by Sugbo 黑料社, the media arm of the provincial government, urged Barns to 鈥渞eturn the panels to the original owner, which is the Archdiocese of Cebu, since NMP鈥檚 continued possession of the panels was illegal, having obtained them through an invalid donation from private individuals.鈥�
Barns said the NMP Board of Trustees had approved the repatriation of the panels after removing the objects from museum collections.
The province and the Archdiocese of Cebu led by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma earlier expressed dismay over the failure of NMP to follow what was agreed upon by the parties in May 2024.
Among those agreed upon was that the restoration of the pulpit panels should be conducted in Boljoon and under the watchful eye of the archdiocese.
This would allow the passing of valuable restoration knowledge and practices to Cebu鈥檚 heritage enthusiasts and make sure the pulpit panels that would be returned by NMP to the archdiocese were original and not duplicates.
However, this initial agreement was set aside when NMP informed Palma that it was already doing the restoration work on the panels in an undisclosed location.
The Boljoon Church, which owns the pulpit panels, was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the NMP and a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
The historic church is home to the canonically crowned 400-year-old image of its patron, the Patrocinio de Maria Santisima.