CEBU CITY – The four historic pulpit panels from the Patrocinio de Maria Parish in Boljoon, Cebu, are set to be returned to their rightful place in March, as announced by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on Friday.
Garcia confirmed in a statement that the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) will be returning the 19th-century panels, which had been at the center of a legal dispute between the Archdiocese of Cebu, the Cebu provincial government, and the municipal government of Boljoon.
“This development comes after Governor Garcia’s recent announcement that charges would be filed against NMP Director General Jeremy Barns for refusing to return the panels despite repeated requests,” a statement from the Cebu Capitol revealed.
The panels, which were reportedly taken from the Boljoon parish in the late 1980s, were unexpectedly discovered at an NMP exhibition in February 2024.
Both Archbishop Jose Palma and Governor Garcia have consistently argued that the panels rightfully belong to the Archdiocese of Cebu and represent an important piece of Cebuano heritage. They maintain that the items were unlawfully acquired and could not have been validly donated to the NMP by private collectors Edwin and Eileen Bautista.
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