CEBU CITY – Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has announced that the four pulpit panels from the Patrocinio de Maria Parish in Boljoon, Cebu, will be returned to the church in March. The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) has agreed to return the 19th-century panels, which have been at the center of a dispute involving the Archdiocese of Cebu, the Cebu provincial government, and the Boljoon municipal government. The decision to return the panels follows Governor Garcia’s threat to file charges against NMP Director General Jeremy Barns for retaining the panels despite multiple requests for their return. The panels, which were allegedly stolen from the parish in the late 1980s, were recently displayed at an NMP exhibit in February 2024. Both Archbishop Jose Palma and Governor Garcia have maintained that the panels are part of the Archdiocese of Cebu’s heritage and belong to the Cebuanos. They argue that the panels were illegally obtained and could not be legitimately donated to the NMP by private collectors Edwin and Eileen Bautista.
