The National Museum of the Philippines may meet possibly Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on April 30, 2024 to discuss on the request of the Cebu Provincial Government, the Municipality of Boljoon, and the Archdiocese of Cebu to have four pulpit panels that were lost in the 80s, that resurfaced on Valentine’s Day as a private display at the NMP, repatriated to Cebu.

However, as of posting time, Garcia wants the meeting to happen within the week.

NMP Director General Jeremy Barns wrote a letter dated April 2, 2024 in response to Garcia’s letter sent on April 1, 2024. The governor already wrote a letter on February 26, 2024 citing that the four pulpit panels form part of important religious and cultural heritage of Cebu. Barns made a reply about a month later on March 25, 2024 or a day prior to the Holy Week holidays.

In a report on Capitol’s news portal, Sugbo News, Garcia reiterated in her April 1 letter her formal invitation for key decision-makers of NMP to “sit down with her in a meeting and visit Boljoon for them to see just how integral the panels are to the patrimony of the people of Boljoon.”

Barns said, in his reply dated April 2, that they would be happy to take on the governor’s offer of them coming to Cebu and visit the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santissima Parish Church in Boljoon where the original provenance of the four pulpit panels was established.  

In a press conference on April 2, 2024, Garcia expressed her frustration on the apparent lack of urgency on the part of NMP to settle the issue.

“Within this week, there should be that meeting long delayed, and I would appreciate also that [Cebu] Archbishop [Jose] Palma will be present,” Garcia said during the presscon.

The Provincial Board on April 1 already gave Garcia the authority to file appropriate legal action against the NMP for its alleged refusal to return the four pulpit panels.