An official of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has expressed optimism that the pulpit panels of the Patrocinio de Maria Church shall be returned by the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) to its rightful place in Boljoon.
On March 13, NCCA Chair Victorino Manalo met with Gov. Gwen Garcia at the Capitol. He was joined by NCCA Commissioner on Cultural Heritage Dr. Ivan Henares and NCCA Cultural Properties Protection and Regulation Division chief Joseph Patrick Lee.
“I think there’s a very big chance, but it all depends really on the answer of the National Museum (of the Philippines),” Manalo told Sugbo News in an interview after the meeting, adding that he would have to meet with NMP Director General Jeremy Barns.
Dr. Jose Eleazar Bersales, Capitol consultant on heritage and museum as well as a member of the advisory board of the NCCA, was also present at the meeting.
Director Barns also sits at the Board of the NCCA chaired by Manalo.
Manalo told Gov. Garcia that they have already visited the Boljoon Parish Church and have heard the clamor of residents for the immediate repatriation of the Church’s pulpit panels currently on display at the NMP.
“We will work with the National Museum to work out the best solution para katong madungog ang mga gi-request sa mga tawo kanilang mga gihangyo,” he said. “Their (Boljoanons) concerns is really for the return of the panels and we’re going to work with the National Museum to make sure that we address the needs.”
The four panels in question, used to adorn Boljoon Church’s antique pulpit, bear carved images of Augustinian saints, as the Augustinian friars established the Church over 400 years ago. They were declared lost in the 1980s.
On Valentine’s Day, these panels resurfaced at the NMP after the agency received them as donation by private collector.
Since then, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia, Boljoon Mayor Joie Genesse Derama, and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, in unison, have called on Director Barns for the immediate return of these religious and cultural treasures for rightfully belong not in the NMP but in Boljoon. | Babie Jane Revecoy