Gov. Gwen Garcia is growing impatient with the “lackadaisical” treatment of the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) in relation to Cebu’s call of repatriation of Boljoon panels.
“Within this week, there should be that meeting long delayed, and I would appreciate also that (Cebu) Archbishop (Jose) Palma will be present,” Gov. Gwen told the Cebu media in a conference at the Capitol on April 2.
“But if we are still treated in lackadaisical manner, remember last Monday, the Provincial Board has already given me the authority to institute a proper legal action in order to retrieve the Boljoon panels,” she added.
Gov. Gwen was reacting to NMP Director General Jeremy Barns’s letter dated April 2, which the NMP official sent to the Capitol as a response to Gov. Gwen’s letter sent less than 24 hours earlier, or on April 1.
Barns said in that April 2 letter that they would be happy to take on the governor’s offer of them coming to Cebu and visit the Patrocinio de Maria Parish Church in Boljoon, from where the four pulpit panels in NMP’s possession originate.
But because of “various pending commitments abroad” throughout April, Barns suggested April 30 as the possible date of the meeting in Cebu.
But Gov. Gwen was clearly frustrated at the apparent lack of urgency on the part of NMP to settle the issue that has hounded the agency since it placed on public display four pulpit panels on Valentine’s Day.
The governor first sent a letter to Barns on February 26, demanding that the panels be returned to Boljoon because they form part of important religious and cultural heritage of Cebu. Barns made a reply over a month later, or on March 25, a day before the Holy Week holidays.
On April 1, Gov. Gwen reiterated her formal invitation for key decision-makers of NMP to sit down with her in a meeting and visit Boljoon for them to see just how integral the panels are to the patrimony of the people of Boljoon.
Archbishop Palma, in a statement, had said that the panels “were removed without permission” from the Archbishop during the time it was taken in the late 1980s. The Archbishop was Palma’s predecessor, the late Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
Capitol consultant Atty. Ben Cabrido Jr. pointed that since the panels were taken “illegally”, then NMP’s ownership claim by virtue of a deed of donation executed by private collectors is baseless.
“The donation itself is defective because you cannot donate a thing which you do not own,” Atty. Cabrido said. “Since the deed of donation was invalid, the claim of title by the NMP is also without any basis.”
According to the lawyer, NMP could be held liable for violating Presidential Decree No. 1612 or the Anti-Fencing Law, which punishes individuals who buys, possesses, or sells properties which have been stolen or taken illegally through theft or robbery. | 𝐼𝑃𝐴 / 𝐴𝐵