After over a year of snubbing various communications from the Cebu Provincial Government, National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) Director General Jeremy Barns personally appeared before Gov. Gwen Garcia to give his assurances and to apologize.

“I really want to assure you, Ma’am, that I’ve been just as stressed and upset over this situation over the past year. I apologize for that. We’ve worked hard toward the same goal—restoring this heritage to Cebu—and I regret any upset this may have caused you,” DG Barns told the Governor during the meeting on February 25.

Their discussion at the Capitol centered on the four pulpit panels which were illegally removed from the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santisima, commonly known as Boljoon Church; and are now in possession of the NMP, having been featured prominently during an exhibit on the Valentine’s Day of 2024. 

DG Barns said the panels will be returned to Cebu next month, March. 

Gov. Garcia was joined in the meeting by Capitol consultant on heritage and museum Dr. Jose Eleazar Bersales and Atty. Fr. Dan delos Angeles, Jr., the legal officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu. 

The Governor was unrelenting in her position, asking DG Barns without reservation to “return the panels to the original owner” which is the Archdiocese of Cebu, since NMP’s continued possession of the panels is illegal, having obtained them through an invalid donation from private individuals. 

The panels, having been stolen from the Boljoon Church in the 1980s, changed possession seven times through the course of the years through various sale transactions, before these were donated to the NMP last year. 

The Governor maintained that the panels can never be an object of valid sale or donation as these were acquired illegally — a position that is backed by sound legal principles. 

DG Barns reported that the NMP Board of Trustees had already given its approval for the repatriation of the panels after de-accessioning them, or the process of removing the objects from museum collections. However, the Governor insisted that the wording of the document that would reconvey the panels back to Cebu should not include the technical term “de-accessioning.”

She insisted on the simple phrase “return the panels to the original owner” or repatriation — which Barns promised to take up with the NMP Board. 

To address concerns and clear up any confusion regarding the authenticity of the panels, which by now have already undergone restoration works by NMP experts, a radiocarbon dating process will be conducted once the panels arrive in Cebu. This scientific method will help determine the true age of the panels and confirm their authenticity. 

Since the panels resurfaced last year, Governor Garcia, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, and Boljoon Mayor Joie Genesse Derama have united in their call for the immediate return of these valuable cultural and religious artifacts, emphasizing that the panels rightfully belong in Boljoon, not at the NMP.

“Malipayon ug mapasalamaton ko nga mauli na ang pulpit panels sa Boljoon nga gikawat 1980s pa. Dako akong pasalamat ni Governor Gwen ug sa tanang nitabang nga mahibalik ang panels,” Mayor Derama told 𝗦𝘂𝗴𝗯𝗼𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀. | JMT