National Museum vows to return pulpit panels to Cebu
Church panels from Boljoon, Cebu
MANILA, Philippines — The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) has promised to return in April the four 19th-century pulpit panels that were reportedly taken from a church in Boljoon, Cebu, during the 1980s.
NMP Director General Jeremy Barns apologized to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for not promptly returning the pulpit panels to Cebu.
READ: Cebu seeks return of historic church pulpit panels from National Museum
The panels, which the NMP earlier received from private collectors Edwin and Aileen Bautista, were part of the pulpit of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santisima in Boljoon and had been reported lost for a long time. —Nestle Semilla-Dakay