Cebu Archbishop Demands Philippine National Museum Return Looted Pulpit Panels

The Archdiocese of Cebu demanded the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) return four panels belonging to the pulpit of a heritage church in the town of Boljoon after it was allegedly looted in the 1980s.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said that, while they were "gladdened" with the surfacing of the lost pulpit panels after it was lost, he insisted that they were "removed without permission from the Local Ordinary at the time," the late Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Palma's predecessor to the archbishopric.

"No official record exists neither in the Archdiocesan Archives nor in the Chancery Office of any request from the Parish Priest at the time, Fr. Faustino Cortes, requesting approval to deconsecrate them for removal, much less conveyance to third parties in exchange for monetary purposes of the parish," he said.

Palma also cited Article 1284 of the Code of Canon Law - the Catholic Church's fundamental disciplinary legal basis - which said that all parish pastors and administrators were "bound to fulfill their function with the diligence of a good householder" in order for the goods entrusted to their care would not be lost or suffer damage.

"Neither would this have been approved, knowing that these panels are sacred objects of the church, where for centuries, Augustinian friars delivered sermons to the faithful," the prelate added.

(Photo: National Museum of the Philippines)

Cebuanos: Looted Panels Belong to Boljoon Church

The statement came after the museum hosted an event called "A Gift to the Nation" on Feb. 13, where Union Bank of the Philippines president and CEO Edwin Bautista and his wife Aileen reportedly donated the 19th-century panels depicting Augustine of Hippo, a third-century Christian bishop, and saint, which was earlier installed at the parish church of the Patronage of the Most Holy Virgin Mary in Boljoon, Cebu.

The church itself and its fortress-like compound - built and maintained by Augustinian friars for around three centuries prior to the control of the Archdiocese of Cebu - was declared a national cultural treasure in 2001.

Since the event, the museum received backlash from the public, specifically Cebuanos, who insisted that the panels belonged to the church and should not be a museum piece.

In a statement, the NMP insisted that the donors of the panels "procured" them "through legitimate means."

"We acknowledge the historical vulnerability of church artifacts to looting and improper disposal in the past," the museum said. "While ethical concerns may arise, it is essential to consider the intricate historical context influencing these actions. The dynamic ownership and circulation of these cultural assets underscore the necessity for open dialogue and collaborative initiatives to address these complexities."

However, the ecclesiastical and the provincial governments of Cebu both pushed back from the NMP's claim

"While we understand the National Museum's desire to exhibit the same to the general public, we have to assert the sacral nature of these panels," Palma explained in his statement. "They are integral to the patrimony of the church as part of her missionary work and thus considered sacred. Their illegal removal constitutes a sacrilege. They should never have been treated, then or now, as mere artworks for exhibition in museums, much less for private appreciation by the collectors who purchased them. For these panels are considered in the ecclesial rite as tools of evangelization."

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said in a recent press conference that they would continue to push for the return of the panels to Boljoon, adding that they have a legal basis for doing so.

"I will make that part of my formal communication [with] them," she said. "Why do we have to hold these discussions here? Precisely so that we can go to Boljoon as well. Let us not be table-surveyors and discuss ideas and concepts over the table. Let us go to where it all began."

Aside from Palma, the people of Boljoon and the whole province of Cebu clamored for the National Museum to repatriate the panels to its church of origin, similar to what the US government did when they returned the bells of Balangiga Church in Eastern Samar province in 2018.

(Photo: Max Limpag)

Uncertain Fate, Whereabouts of Boljoon's Other Treasures

Meanwhile, local news outlet Rappler earlier reported that hazy memories of an event in the 1980s obscured the circumstances regarding the loss of the panels. The issue also resurfaced the emotions of a town that once stopped attending church to boycott one of its past pastors they accused of selling its antiques.

Local journalist Max Limpag revealed in a series of Facebook posts a list of items that were allegedly sold by the priest, which caused the parishioners of Boljoon to attend church services in the nearby town of Caceres.

The priest in question then filed a case for slander against parishioners who were locked up through an arrest warrant enforced on a Friday. According to Boljoon Budget Officer Ronald Villanueva, who recalled the incident with Rappler, the detention cell was crammed with disgruntled parishioners.

Other locals also recalled that a "black mass" was allegedly held inside the church one night. A prominent local family had its members dying off shortly after, they claimed.

The Rev. Brian Brigoli, chair of the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, said that whether the panels and other church artifacts were stolen or sold by the pastor mentioned by local anecdotes, they were still considered stolen property.

The church's commission was alerted to the existence of the panels last year by Cebu City Cultural and Historical Affairs Office employee and Boljoon resident Orland James Romarate, who sent a video of a November 2023 episode of a local cable channel program interviewing Bautista. The program showed the panels for a short period of time.

A local source who previously visited Boljoon Church told HNGN - under the condition of anonymity - that a curator of the church's museum revealed that it had a sizable treasure being a parish held by the Augustinian friars. The source added that the last Augustinian friar assigned to Boljoon took with him some of the church's treasures when he escaped to the protection of Filipino guerillas during the Second World War.

The priest who was accused of selling off what remains of Boljoon's treasures in the 1980s has since died, the source revealed.