Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia formally wrote to the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) to demand for the return of the “stolen” four carved wooden panels from the pulpit of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santissima in Boljoon, Cebu.
A recent announcement made by the National Museum of the Philippines became controversial after the public noticed that the four panels now under its custody were the stolen pulpit panels from a church in Boljoon, Cebu in the 1980s.
Father Miguel Ortega allegedly stole rare religious antiques from the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santisima in Boljoon, Cebu, when he served as parish priest from 1976 to 1982
“Now, we are all called to respond to this collective discernment and to once again contribute to the further enrichment and maturation of the Church's synodal reflections,” said Garcera.
Even as he acknowledged the NMP’s desire to exhibit the panels to the general public, Palma said the illegal removal of the panels “constitutes a sacrilege.”