THE Philippines is scheduled this week to submit a 300-year-old map to the international tribunal, which will bolster its case against China’s territorial claim of the South China Sea, the Malacanang said Monday, June 8.
“China’s claim is about historical title,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in a press briefing. “This old map would certainly present the side of the Philippines when it comes to any historical basis.”
Known as the Murillo Velarde map and originally called “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas” was first published in 1734 in Manila by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit priest.
Lacierda said the map will strengthen the Philippines’ arbitration case and debunk China’s so-called nine-dash-line claim, which it has been using to help prove its claim.
At the time the map came out, it was praised for its detail.
“It became a sensation in Europe because it was very detailed,” said Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Caprio at a recent Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication forum regarding the dispute, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
“It was the advance party for Google Earth,” Carpio added.
Filipino businessman Mel Velarde, who purchased the map at a Sotheby’s auction for P12 million, will present a certified true copy of it to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Friday, June 12.
The map will be submitted to the United Nations Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in The Hague in the Netherlands this week.
Velarde said the map’s most valuable and relevant feature is found on the upper left section where a cluster of land mass called “Bajo de Masinloc” and “Panacot” – now known as Panatag or Scarborough Shoal – located west of the Luzon coastline. The cluster is irrefutable proof that the disputed shoal has been part of Philippine territory, Velarde added, according to Inquirer.
“As Justice Carpio said in his lecture, none of the islands drawn in this Murrillo-Velarde map ever appeared on China’s maps since centuries ago – only in recent history when China concocted the nine-dash line,” Velarde said in an email to Inquirer.
Despite the tensions resulting from the dispute, Lacierda said the Philippines and China remain friends.
“Just to be clear, we have no conflict with the Chinese people. Our conflict, for instance, our differences are with the approach of the leadership in dealing with the South China Sea. But on whole, with respect to the Chinese people, we continue to establish good relations with them. And we certainly look forward to a better relations with China,” Lacierda said, according to ABS-CBN News.
He added that the relationship of the two countries is not wholly based on the territorial conflict, and that people should consider more than just the issue when examining their relations.
“If you are going to limit yourself only to the South China [Sea] issue, certainly, it will color your perspective. But if you look at it from a broader perspective where we have established good relations with China and we are friends – the Chinese people are here, Filipinos are there,” Lacierda said.
(With reports from ABS-CBN News, CNN, Inquirer and Philstar)
Might this map give the Philippines the upper hand against China in the dispute over ownership of Scarborough Shoal and other islets in the West Philippine Sea?
Businessman Mel Velarde recently successfully bid for and acquired a certified true copy of what is known as the Murillo Velarde map, a cartographic sketch of the Philippine archipelago said to have been drawn by Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde and published in Manila in 1734. The World Digital Library, which carries a downloadable copy of the map, says “it is the first and most important scientific map of the Philippines.”
The site further describes the map (formally known as “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas,” Manila 1734, or A Hydrographical and Chorographical Chart of the Philippine Islands) thus: “The map is not only of great interest from the geographic point of view, but also as an ethnographic document. It is flanked by twelve engravings, six on each side, eight of which depict different ethnic groups living in the archipelago and four of which are cartographic descriptions of particular cities or islands. According to the labels, the engravings on the left show: Sangleyes (Chinese Philippinos) or Chinese; Kaffirs (a derogatory term for non-Muslims), a Camarin (from the Manila area), and a Lascar (from the Indian subcontinent, a British Raj term); mestizos, a Mardica (of Portuguese extraction), and a Japanese; and two local maps—one of Samboagan (a city on Mindanao), and the other of the port of Cavite.”
Velarde’s copy came by way of a curious provenance: It was among the possessions of a British lord—the Duke of Northumberland, Ralph George Algernon Percy—who, needing money to help residents living in his estate whose properties were damaged by a severe flood, auctioned off some 80 items from his family collection. The prestigious auction house Sotheby’s in London held two auctions of the Duke’s heirlooms; Velarde was able to get the map at the second auction held in November 2014, for £170,500 (around P12 million).
More than curious historical value, the map may prove crucial to the case the Philippines has filed against China in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in The Hague, which disputes China’s claim to over almost 90 percent of the South China Sea based on its so-called nine-dash line. China has said its ancient records show indisputable historical ownership of the region, an assertion that many international historians and scholars have questioned. The nine-dash-line claim was made by China only after 1947, and officially presented to the world in 2012. By then, the region had become an international flashpoint, with competing claims by countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, and in the case of the Philippines, even actual occupation of a number of islands scattered in the area.
One tiny detail in the 18th-century Murillo Velarde map appears to debunk China’s position: It shows Scarborough Shoal, from which China drove away Philippine troops in 2012, as already part of Philippine territory at the time the map was drawn. Called “Panacot” in the map, the shoal came to be known as Panatag or Bajo de Masinloc in modern times.
In this, the map all but supports the masterly survey of 60 other ancient maps done by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, which convincingly shows that China’s “historical ownership” of the area is a baseless claim. Even the oldest map, dating to 1136 under China’s Nan Song Dynasty, indicates that China’s southernmost territory was Hainan Island. “There is not a single Chinese map, whether made by Chinese or foreigners, showing that the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal were ever part of Chinese territory,” according to Carpio.
Peculiarly, the Philippine government has not made fuller use of Carpio’s presentation, to bring it to a wider audience and to get more Filipinos informed about their country’s crucial claim to an integral part of its territory, now under challenge by a giant neighbor with the economic and military means to bully its weaker coclaimants despite their historically more plausible positions.
The Murillo Velarde map, which Velarde has said he will donate to the Philippine government, can jump-start this education campaign. The map, along with other pertinent evidence presented by Carpio, should make their way to textbooks and instruction manuals. More Filipinos need to be rallied to this cause.
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Manila: The Philippines is set to submit to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in The Hague this week an almost 300-year-old map showing Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal as part of Philippine territory for three centuries now.
Known as the Murillo Velarde map, the centuries-old document originally called “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas” was first published in 1734 in Manila by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit priest. A certified true copy of the map, described as the “Mother of all Philippine maps” and the “Holy Grail of Philippine cartography,” will be presented to President Benigno Aquino III on June 12, which coincides with the Philippines’ celebration of Independence Day, by Filipino businessman Mel Velarde, who bought the map at a Sotheby’s auction for P12 million. —CNN
VARIOUS inhabitants of the islands as drawn by Francisco Suarez
IT WILL come as a big surprise for many that, in 1991, the 1734 Murillo Velarde map, now making front-page news, was offered with a starting bid of 10,000 German marks (P186,000) at an auction in Frankfurt!
Alerted by friends in Europe, I immediately sought out a dozen alumni willing to contribute P50,000 each to place a bid for the map. Unfortunately Mt. Pinatubo had erupted at the time and its lahar kept flooding Central Luzon. So I incurred the ire of an historian who scolded me for initiating such a project.
His tirade dwelt on the vanity of collectors and their apathy to the suffering of their fellow human beings during a national disaster.
His simplistic argument sounded like that of Judas who questioned Mary Magdalene’s “frivolous” act of pouring on Christ’s head the perfume which could have been sold and its proceeds given to the poor. The presupposition here seems that for as long as the poor and hungry are around, one should not indulge in the “guilty pleasure” of buying artworks and cultural artifacts.
But then, do human beings live by bread alone? Beyond material needs like food and housing, human beings desire meaning. Culture and art are not “luxuries” but are essential to being human, for they bestow us with meaning and a sense of self-esteem.
Culture, taken here in the broadest sense, refers to any human experience insofar as it leaves traces. It covers human works on the technical, social, economic, political, intellectual, moral and artistic levels.
These human achievements are expressed in the forms of tools, documents, monuments, actions like rituals, and works of art. To quote Hegel, these constitute “the very substance of the life of a people.” These reveal that layer of images and symbols comprising the basic ideals of a people.
It will also come as a bigger surprise that for 30 years now, a copy of the 1734 Murillo Velarde map has been in Malacañan Palace, according to a reliable source! It is strange then that no one in the national government took notice of this until Velasco Velarde’s heroic act of winning the bid and generous gesture of donating the coveted map to the National Museum.
The “truth dissemination” planned by this Ateneo alumnus could have started earlier. To quote him: “[E]very Chinese child since 1935 was taught in school that these contested islands were owned by China for centuries… We must match the indoctrination, propaganda and brainwashing of their youth with our own truth seeking and truth dissemination among our youth. A P12-million map without the accompanying follow-through programs would make that map a mere wallpaper!”
Collecting is noble
Velasco Velarde may have imparted an important lesson to collectors—that one never collects for oneself alone but for generations to come. He reminds them that artworks and cultural artifacts are not only viable as economic investments for self-gain. They are also powerful vessels for promoting esteem of one’s heritage, pride of one’s country and dedication to one’s people.
A “noble-minded” collector differs from a “hoarder,” The true collector is ever mindful that he lives in time and in the world with and for others. She is constantly aware of the intimate intertwining of the spiritual and the material—that matter is the necessary slope of the spirit. To care for the material is to assure the growth of the spiritual.
To go back to the 1734 Murillo Velarde map. It may be time to call it the Murillo Velarde-Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay-Francisco Suarez map. For not only Fr. Murillo Velarde the cartographer but also Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay the engraver-printer and Francisco Suarez the artist give us a sense of self-esteem. They deserve our gratitude.
In 1733, King Philip V of Spain ordered Governor General Fernando Valdés Tamón to prepare a map of the Philippines. Governor General Valdés immediately entrusted the task to Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit professor of canon law at the Colegio de San Ignacio in Manila. According to Carlos Quirino’s book “Philippine Cartography,” Fr. Murillo Velarde was acknowledged as “the authority on maps and the best chronicles that had appeared in the archipelago.”
Considered by the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid as the “first and most important scientific map of the Philippines,” the 1734 Murillo Velarde is also a large map measuring 27 inches x 42 inches. In the first volume of his “Chronicas,” published in Manila from 1738 to 1744, the Franciscan Juan de San Antonio credited Murillo Velarde as having “placed all the towns, points, coves, ports, shoals, reefs, routes, courses, rivers, forts and distances, as was possible in so difficult a matter and within the scale. And in a description of a few lines … related the most memorable [events] therein, the most extensive possible under such a minimum of words and figures.”
Murillo Velarde’s map is regarded by former Education and Culture Minister Jaime C. Laya as “the culmination of two centuries of mapmaking” and as “the Holy Grail of Philippine cartography.” For the Jesuit historian José S. Arcilla, the map also served as a sea chart aimed at guiding ship captains to “navigate the narrow inter-island seas of the Philippines, for which waterways and harbors were clearly marked.” That is why the map includes compass roses from which radiates a network of lines on which sea pilots plotted their courses. This also explains the drawings of Moro sailboats (vintas), Chinese junks (champan), Spanish galleons and other types of sailing craft.
At the top right-hand corner of Murillo Velarde’s map, there is a magnificent cartouche with the Spanish royal coat of arms, heralded by two cherubs. Below this, two female allegories hold a curtain with the map’s title: “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas Dedicada al Rey Nuestro Señor por el Mariscal d[el] Campo D[on]. Fernando Valdés Tamón … Hecha por el P[adre] Pedro Murillo Velarde d[e]la. Compa[ñia] de Jesus.”
On the medallion in the southwestern part of the map, there is a capsule history of the Philippines: Magellan’s arrival in Cebu, his being slain (by Lapu-Lapu) in Mactan, the founding of Manila by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi on June 24, 1571, the products cultivated, the flora and fauna, and the missionary work undertaken by the different religious orders.
RURAL scenes and plans of Cavite, Zamboanga, Manila and Guam as drawn by Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay–among 12 panels that complement the Murillo Velarde map, making the map a product of Filipino artistry. “Filipinos are extremely capable in any handicraft,” writes Fr. Murillo Velarde in 1752. “I have seen paintings, drawings and maps from (native Filipino) pens more beautiful, neater and handsomer than those taken from Paris.”
Excellent painters, engravers
Having a high regard for the talent of the Indios (Filipinos) in the arts and crafts, Murillo Velarde asked the artist Francisco Suarez and the engraver-printer Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay to collaborate on 12 panels showing scenes from daily life in early 18th-century Philippines, and the local flora, fauna and landscape.
Murillo Velarde expressed his admiration in his “Geographia historica de las Islas Philipinas,” published in Madrid in 1752: “The Filipinos are extremely capable in any handicraft— there are excellent embroiderers, painters, silversmiths and engravers whose work has no equal in all the Indies, and could be considered elegant in Paris and Rome. I have seen paintings, drawings and maps from pens more beautiful, neater and handsomer than those taken from Paris.”
The 12 panels consist of four separate parts which are pasted at the sides. Each part is made of three frames (9 in wide and 7 in high). An interesting aspect to note is the cosmopolitan population of early 18th-century Philippines. Father Murillo recounts in his “Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la compañia de Jesus” that by standing on the bridge across the Pasig River, one could see representatives of “all the nations of Europe, Asia, America and Africa passing by.”
In a first frame on the left side of the map, there are sangleyes or Chinese residents (a long-haired and bearded Christian convert, a trader with a fan, a fisherman (pescador) wearing a raincoat of palm leaves and a laborer with his carrying pole (cargador con pinga); the last three with their hair in pigtails. Below this, a frame shows a group of four half-naked kaffirs (cafres) from Africa. Three of them, with a string of small bells around their ankles, dance while a Canarin (a native of Canara, an ancient kingdom near Mangalore) and a lascar or Indian sailor look on. In a third frame, there is a family of mestizos (of mixed Spanish and Filipino blood); the man dons a hat and long cape over bloomers; the woman wears a saya (a long wide skirt) and a tambourine necklace.
In the same frame, there is a Mardican (or native of Ternate in the Moluccas) with a sword, spear and shield. After the Spanish forces withdrew from the Moluccas in 1662, the Christian Mardicans in the Moluccas migrated to a town in Cavite which they also named “Ternate.” A Japanese with a shaved head and a sword stands beside the Mardican.
Rural scene
In the first frame on the right side of the map, there is a Spanish official, dressed in the Louis XV style, a flared coat, lace cuffs and wig. He is protected from the heat of the tropical sun by his servant who holds a high parasol behind him. A negro criollo (Philippine-born Spaniard described as dark-skinned but not as dark as the Indios) is respectfully listening to the Spanish official. Behind them, two Indios indulge in the favorite local sport of cockfighting.
Farther behind them are two Aetas, with bow and arrow. In the next frame, a seated Armenian (or Persian) smokes a water pipe in front of a Mogol (with a beard and a turban) and a native of Malabar (with turban and earrings) from Goa and India’s west coast.
In a third frame, there is a street scene with a couple—a barefoot Indio, with a black cloth (lambon) on his arm, and a veiled India or native woman, with a scapular around her neck—on their way to church.
Facing them are a female vendor selling a basket of guavas held on top of her head; and two boys, one in a loincloth and holding a crab, the other naked, carrying a piece of bamboo containing either vinegar or milk. Besides the two boys, a Bisaya stands with a balarao (a regional knife). In the distance, a couple is going through the movements of the comintang, an ancient Filipino dance, to the music of a man playing a mandolin.
There is also a frame with a rural scene: a man on a ladder cutting some bamboo from a grove (with the observation that bamboo is used in building houses), a farmer riding on a carabao, a boy holding a huge bat with a head resembling that of a dog, a man being transported in a hammock and an albino monkey. In the same frame, monkeys climb a coconut tree whose sap is made into a drink (tuba). In the background, we see papaya and jackfruit (nanca) trees; also an areca nut palm tree (bonga), from which betel nut (buyo) is derived and which is chewed by the locals.
There is still another frame with a rural scene: a farmer urging his carabao to help him plow a field, another farmer with a wooden sled pulled by a carabao, a woman pounding with a pestle rice in a wooden mortar (lusong) before a nipa hut (bahay kubo). For fauna, there is a crocodile, baring its sharp teeth, a boa constrictor with its tail strangling a pig and a white crow (puting uwak) in the sky. Four frames are devoted to Intramuros, the fort of Zamboanga, the fort of Cavite and the island of Guam (Guajan).
Fr. Murillo Velarde must have been overjoyed by the naive charm of the 12 vignettes. In any case, pride is visible in the signatures of the artist and the engraver who proclaim at the bottom of the Murillo Velarde map: “Fran.[cisco] Suarez, Indio Tagalo lo hizo” (Francisco Suarez Indio Tagalo made this) and “Lo esculpió Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay, Indio Tagalo en Man.[ila] Año 1734” (Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay, Indio Tagalo, engraved this).
‘Panacot’
JAIME C. Laya calls the Murillo Velarde map “the Holy Grail of Philippine cartography.”
“Panacot” or “Scarborough Shoal” does not appear in any of the ancient Chinese maps.
The 1734, 1744 and 1760 Murillo Velarde maps clearly show Panacot, the island disputed by China, even before it became known as “Scarborough Shoal.”
In fact, as Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio wrote in his monograph “Historical Facts, Historical Lies and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea” and has repeatedly stressed in his lectures on the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China, Panacot has been “consistently depicted in ancient Philippine maps from 1636 to 1940.”
Only after Sept. 12, 1784, when an East India Co. tea-clipper was wrecked on one of its rocks did the shoal become “Scarborough Shoal.” For Carpio Panacot or Scarborough Shoal “does not appear in any of the ancient Chinese maps.”
Leovino Ma. Garcia is former dean of the humanities of Ateneo de Manila University. He teaches philosophy at the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School.
Sotheby’s auctioned the item as ‘the first scientific map of the Philippines’
By Chris Green
The Independent
When an ageing Victorian culvert collapsed on land owned by the Duke of Northumberland in May 2012, the effects were immediate and serious: landslips and flooding which resulted in the residents of nearby blocks of flats being evacuated and some of the properties demolished.
But nobody could have predicted that the decay of an underground drainage system in a housing estate in the west of Newcastle would result in the unearthing of a crucial piece of evidence in a bitter land dispute between the Philippines and China.
The story, involving a hard-up English aristocrat, a wealthy Filipino businessman and a 281-year-old map, has yet to reach a conclusion but already reads like the script of a Hollywood film. Alnwick Castle, which is owned by the Duke of Northumberland and where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed, could even act as a ready-made backdrop to the drama.
After the culvert collapsed three years ago, the Duke was left facing a repair bill of up to £12 million to fix the damage. To finance the project, he agreed to sell around 80 familyheirlooms at an auction in Sotheby’s in London.
Lot #183 was a map drawn up in Manila in 1734 by Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit priest, which the auction house’s catalogue described as “the first scientific map of the Philippines”.
Specialists at Sotheby’s set a price of between £20,000 and £30,000 for the 44 by 47-inch document, but it eventually sold for £170,500.
The buyer was Filipino businessman Mel Velarde, thepresident of an IT firm, who lodged the winning bid over the phone from a steakhouse where he was celebrating his 78-year-old mother’s birthday. Although he was initially interested in the map because he shared a name with the cartographer, he said winning the auction became a “personal crusade” when he realised that it may prove his country’s claim to the Scarborough Shoals.
Filipino military chief General Gregorio Catapang points to aerial photos of Chinese construction over reefs and shoals in the Spratly archipelago during a press briefing in Manila on April 20, 2015
The Shoals, a group of rocks and reefs 120 miles west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, are labelled as “Panacot” on the map, which also shows them as forming part of Philippines territory. The ownership of the rocky islands has long been disputed, with both China and the Philippines laying claim.
Asked why he was so keen to secure the map, Mr Velarde said: “In a true-to-life movie, there’s a part for everybody. There’s a bully in the neighbourhood. He already took over our land. Then, this map is owned by a Duke in a Harry Potter castle. It’s like you wanting to play your part in the movie.”
The businessman has now given a copy of the map to the Philippine government, where it will be put to use by officials during legal debate at the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. A final judgement on the row is not expected until March next year.
The Philippine government are hopeful that the map may tip the balance in their favour. “China’s claim is about historical title. This old map would certainly present the side of the Philippines when it comes to any historical basis,” said Edwin Lacierda, a spokesman for the country’s president Benigno Aquino III.
The Philippines accused China of seizing the Shoal in 2012, when ships of the two nations were involved in a stand-off. When the smaller Philippine force had to withdraw, the Chinese occupied the islands.
In 2013, the Philippines requested international arbitration in the case, and last year submitted a 4,000-page dossier to support its claim of sovereignty. China has so far ignored requests to take part in the legal process.
The “Murillo Map”, as it is now known, also contains a series of 12 engravings, depicting the various different ethnic groups which lived on the islands at the time. A Filipino supreme court judge has described it as the “mother of all Philippine maps”, as it also appears to cast doubt on the so-called “nine-dash-line”, which marks out China’s claim to 90 per cent of the South China Sea.
A spokeswoman for the Duke of Northumberland told The Independentthat he did not want to comment on the affair. “He’s a very private person and it all happened after the map was sold anyway,” she added.
The map
The “Murillo Map”, as it is now known, was drawn up by the Jesuit priest and cartographer Pedro Murillo Velarde in 1734 and published in Manila. According to some historical accounts, it was removed from the Philippines in 1762 by invading British troops.
The map eventually ended up in the possession of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy, who sold it off alongside around 80 other heirlooms to pay for the damage caused when a Victorian culvert collapsed on his land, causing flooding and landslips.
As might be expected the sizeable wall map, which measures 112cm by 120cm, it is not in the best condition. Notes accompanying the lot when it was auctioned at Sotheby’s in November 2014 warned potential buyers: “linen splitting, one panel detached, light browning”.
However, the auction house also described it as “a landmark in the depiction of the islands” and “the first scientific map of the Philippines”. Two side panels contain 12 engravings, portraying a series of native costumed figures, a map of Guam and three city and harbour maps, including Manila.
For a man who relies on favorable odds to remain in business, the fact that the Mother of all Philippine maps was auctioned off at Sotheby s London on his mother s birthday sounded propitious enough. And so it was, although the P5 million businessman Mel Velasco Velarde had been prepared to cough up for the 1734 Murillo Velarde map soared to the final hammer price of P12 million after some furious bidding at that Nov. 4, 2014 auction. For the chief executive officer of the international digital technology company Now Corp. and chair of the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) who prides himself on b…
Sa ating paggunita ng Araw ng Kalayaan na nakamit noong Hunyo 12, 1898, makalipas ang 117-taon ng ating Inang Bayan ay muli nating sasariwain ang kagitingan ng lahing Pilipino.
Sa araw na ito ay ipinagdiriwang natin ang kaunaunahang pagwawagayway ng bandila ng Pilipinas sa saliw ng Lupang Hinirang sa Kawit, Cavite matapos ipaglaban ng ating mga ninuno ang ating kasarinlan sa mahigit 300 taong pananakop ng mga dayuhang Espanyol.
Ngayon, muli na naman tayong sinusubok ng panahon sa usaping agawan ng teritoryo sa West Philippine Seas sa pagitan ng Tsina. Ibang lahi man ang ating kagitgitan sa kasalukuyan, hindi pa rin nagbabago ang tema ng ating pakikipaglaban.
Daan taon man tayong yumuko at magtiis sa pananakop ng ating bansa, nababanaag sa ating kasaysayan ang katapangan at kadakilaan ng ating lahi. Pagpapatunay lamang na ang bawat Pilipino ay may makasaysayang papel sa usapin ng kalayaan.
Isa na rito ang payak na halimbawa ni G. Mel Velarde, isang negosyante na lumaban sa subasta ng Murillo Velarde Map na unang inilathala noong 1734 upang ipagbili ito sa Pambansang Museo sa halagang halos 12M Piso. Subalit ang imahe ng Tsina sa pinagaagawang Spratlys ang pangunahing pumasok sa kanyang isipan upang bilhin ito. Sa kanyang sariling pananalita “Pansariling away na, nagiging personal na sa akin (lt became a personal crusade)”.
Sa halip na mabawi ang halagang ginugol ay nagdesisyon siyang ipagkaloob ito ng libre sa pamahalaan upang magamit ang nasabing mapa bilang isa sa mga pangunahing dokumento ng Pilipinas para sa United Nations International Tribunal on the Laws of the Seas. Sapagkat siya ay naninindigan na ang labang ito ay laban din niya bilang isang Pilipino.
Sinusubukan nating maresolba ang agawan sa teritoryo sa pamamagitan ng diplomatikong pamamaraan subalit handa tayong magkapit-bisig sa bagong anyo ng pananakop na ating nararanasan.
Sa Ika-117 taon ng Araw ng Kalayaan sana’y manumbalik sa atin ang lakas ng pagkakaisa at determinasyong magtagumpay sapagkat sa atin nananalaytay ang dugong Rizal at Bonifacio.
Hindi lamang ito laban ng iilan. Ito ay laban ng bawat Pilipinong naninindigan para sa kalayaan ng ating minamahal na Republika ng Pilipinas
Businessman Mel Velardo looks at the reproduction of the 1734 Murillo map he now owns. VERA Files/Yvonne Chua
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government will be submitting to the United Nations Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in The Hague this week an almost 300-year-old map of the Philippines showing the disputed Scarborough Shoal being part of Philippine territory as far back as three centuries ago.
The map debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim over the South China Sea. It also locates Scarborough shoal, then known as “Panacot,” also called “Panatag” by Filipinos, off the shores of Luzon, then known as Nueva Castilla. Scarborough shoal has been a source of conflict between the Philippines and China.
The Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde had the map published in Manila in 1734. It surfaced in 2012 among the possessions of a British lord, who put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London, where Filipino businessman Mel Velarde bid and got it for £170,500 ($266,869.46 or P12,014,463.09).
Full shot of the Murillo Velarde map.
The first certified true copy of the map has been reserved for Malacañang. Velarde will personally present it to President Aquino on June 12, the anniversary of Philippine independence.
How Velarde, president and chief executive officer of Information Technology-based Now Corporation, acquired the map that had lain among the treasures of one of England’s most prominent families for more than 200 years is like something out of the movies. In fact, the wizard Harry Potter even makes a cameo appearance in the story.
Velarde has yet to find out if he is related to the Jesuit priest, although a possible connection was one of the motives for his pursuit of the artifact.
Velarde said Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, a long time friend, suggested to him sometime in October last year to bid for the Murillo Velarde map. Velarde said Carpio’s convincing line was: “You know, man, you’re a Velarde.”
Carpio, who has been conducting lectures debunking China’s claim of almost the entire South China Sea, calls the Murillo Velarde map the “Mother of all Philippine maps.”
Local public and private museums declined to take part in the Sotheby’s bid. The National Museum was interested but didn’t have the money, so the plan was for Velarde to buy the map and sell it later to the National Museum.
The Murillo Velarde map measures 1,120 by 1,200 mm. The Sotheby’s catalog carried a description of the map by Filipino historian and biographer Carlos Quirino: “Murillo Velarde’s map of the Philippines is a landmark in the depiction of the islands, and the first scientific map of the Philippines. It is flanked by two pasted-on side-panels with twelve engravings, eight depicting native costumed figures, a map of Guajam (Guam) and three city or harbour maps, notably Manila.”
The map was among 80 heirlooms that the current Duke of Northumberland, Ralph George Algernon Percy, decided to auction off after a devastating flood hit Northumberland County in April 2012.
Newspaper reports said heavy rains had “caused a culvert on the Duke of Northumberland’s land to collapse. Many residents were evacuated and some homes demolished after the foundations were damaged.”
Although the Duke’s estate did not own all the affected homes, he provided urgent help for his neighbors. The flood left him with a £12 million bill for repairs, hence the need to auction off his family’s collection.
As a bit of trivia, the Duke owns the vast Alnwick Castle, which has been featured as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the first two Harry Potter films.
The Murillo Velarde map as it appears in a Sotheby’s flyer.
Sotheby held the first auction on July 9, 2014 and the second on Nov. 4, 2014, both in London.
It was in the November auction that the Murillo Velarde map, called Carta Hydrographia y chorogphica de las Ylas Filipinas, Manila 1734, was included under Lot 183.
The Murillo Velarde map names two Filipinos as responsible for the map—Francisco Suarez who drew it and Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay who engraved it.
Historian Ambeth Ocampo wrote, “The Murillo Velarde map of 1734 is quite rare, with less than 50 known copies to exist in the entire universe.”
Velarde registered to participate in the auction through an agent. He had participated in auctions in person before but his acquisition of the map last November was his first bid by phone.
The Sotheby’s auction took place at 9 p.m, Manila time while Velarde was in a Resorts World steakhouse for his mother’s 78th birthday dinner.
Velarde described the bidding, which lasted only for three to four minutes, as “furious.”
He was on the phone before Sotheby’s put Lot 183 on the auction block, and noted that in other lots, it was over after two to three bids.
Bidding for the map started at £30,000. He started to bid through his agent, thinking that he could go as high as £80,000.
Velarde said he could hear “30,000 pounds,… 40,000 pounds… 50,000 pounds. Fifty-five, sixty.” He said,”It seemed like so many were bidding.”
When the bidding reached £80,000, Velarde said he paused for a few seconds to decide whether or not to stop. The exchange rate was P68 to £1. He knew that the National Museum could allot only P5 million to buy rare items.
Then images of the Chinese occupying the contested islands in the Spratlys came to mind, he said, and he decided to proceed.
“Pansariling away na, nagiging personal na sa akin (lt became a personal crusade),” he said. He eventually paid more than double the amount he thought he was willing to part with: £170,500.
When you buy a car, Velarde said, you have something to compare it with. Not in the case of an old map. But Velarde also thought of the possible implications later, knowing that there is a pending case before the UN International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea against China. “You need some evidence,” he said.
“There’s a bully in the neighborhood. He already took over our land,” businessman Mel Velarde says, referring to China. VERA Files/Yvonne Chua
Velarde said he is thankful the auction was not held in Shanghai or Macau, where the map could have attracted Chinese bidders and the price would have been much higher.
Now that Velarde owns the map, the National Museum has informed him it has no funds to buy the map this year, and that there was some uncertainty about funds next year. Velarde decided to donate the map instead.
Why is he doing it?
“In a true-to-life movie, there’s a part for everybody. There’s a bully in the neighborhood. He already took over our land. We have soldiers in the Spratlys. Naka-standby lang sila (They’re just on standby there),” Velarde said.
“Then, this map is owned by a Duke in a Harry Potter castle. It’s like you wanting to play your part in the movie,” he added.
Velarde said he hopes to meet with the Duke of Northumberland someday. His children want to come along, not really for the Duke, who comes from a 700-year-old English aristocracy and is the fourth largest landowner in the United Kingdom. They are excited to see the room where Harry Potter had his first flying lessons.
VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”
Manila | China’s basis in claiming 90% of the South China Sea is its Nine Dash Line map published and released to public on December 1, 1947. The map since then underwent several modifications.
The Philippines on the other hand shocked the public when it announced earlier yesterday that it will be submitting to an almost 300 year old map to the United Nations Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in The Hague this week. The map debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim over the South China Sea.
The Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde had the map published in Manila in 1734. It surfaced in 2012 among the possessions of a British lord, who put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London, where Filipino businessman Mel Velarde bid and got it for £170,500 ($266,869.46 or P12,014,463.09).
The first certified true copy of the map has been reserved for Malacañang. Velarde will personally present it to President Aquino on June 12, the anniversary of Philippine independence.
The map is considered to be the oldest and mother of all Philippine maps. Scarborough Shoal is clearly indicated on the map.
The map according to the Philippine Government serves as solid evidence that Filipinos owns most parts of Spratly Islands and the whole Scarborough Shoal.
Almost 90% of Spratly Islands is inside the 200-mile Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone while it is more than 900 miles away from mainland China. Scarborough Shoal is around 80 miles from the Luzon Island.
China started to claim the Spratly Islands after the closure of Subic Base on 1999.
The Philippine Government is hoping that the presentation of its antique map to The Hague would clear everything up and undermine China’s handpicked and self-proclaimed Nine Dash Line map.
Wednesday, 10 June 2015 00:00
Written by Ellen Tordesillas
Sa Biyernes, Philippine Independence Day, ibibigay ng negosyanteng si Mel Velarde kay Pangulong Noynoy Aquino ang unang kopya ng mapa na ginawa ng isang Jesuit na pari, si Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, noong 1734, halos 300 taon na ang nakalipas.
Mahalaga ang mapa na ito dahil pinapakita roon na ang Scarborough Shoal, isang malaking bato na malapit sa Zambales na inaangkin din ng China, ay parte ng Pilipinas.
Doon sa mapa, ang tawag sa Scarborough Shoal ay “Panacot”.
Ngayon kilala rin ang Scarborough Shoal sa iba’t ibang pangalan: Panatag Shoal at Bajo de Masinloc. Ang tawag ng China ay Huangyan island.
Bakit kaya Panacot? Dahil kaya sa malalaking alon doon? Sabi naman ng mangingisda sa Masinloc, kaya raw nila tinawag na Panatag dahil kapag mataunan na bagyo at napapadpad sila roon, panatag sila roon habang hinihintay na humupa ang panahon.
Isusumite ang mapa na ito sa korte ng United Nations kung saan nagsampa ng kaso ang Pilipinas laban sa China. Ito ay pangkontra sa sinasabi ng China na kanila ang halos 80 porsiyento ng South China Sea mula’t mula pa ayon sa kanilang nine-dash line map.
Maganda ang kuwento kung paano napunta ang lumang mapa kay Velarde. Binili niya ito sa isang auction ng Sotheby sa London noong Nobyembre sa halagang P12 milyon.
Kuwento ni Mel, sinabi sa kanya ng kanyang kaibigan na si Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, na magkakaroon ng auction sa London galing sa koleksyon ng Duke of Northumberland at kasama roon ang Murillo Velarde na mapa.
Ang Duke of Northumberland ang may-ari ng napakalawak na Alnwick Castle kung saan nag-shooting para sa pelikulang Harry Potter.
Napilitan ang Duke na mag-auction ng mga 80 mamahaling gamit ng kanyang mga ninuno dahil nagkaroon ng bagyo sa kanilang lugar noong 2012 at malaki ang sira sa kanilang lugar na nagdulot ng baha sa kapaligiran, kasama ng ibang bahay.
Inabot ng milyun-milyon ang kanilang ginastos sa pagpaayos ng kastilyo at mga bahay sa paligid.
Grabe ang koleksyon ng mga sculptor, paintaings at mga dokumento ng kanyang mga ninuno na nakatago sa Alnwick Castle. Nakasama roon ang Murillo-Velarde map.
Parang suspense na pelikula nang kinukwento ni Mel Velarde, president ng One Corporation at chairman ng Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication ang bidding na sinalihan niya sa pamamagitan ng telepono para sa Murillo Velarde map.
Ang plano talaga ay bilhin muna niya ang map sa auction. Kapag nabili na, ibenta sa National Museum na may budget daw ng P5 milyon para sa ganung mga mahalagang dokumento.
Umabot sa P12 milyon ang presyo ng mapa.
Wala raw pera ang National Museum para bilhin ang mapa. Nagdesisyon si Mel na i-donate na lang. Galing, ‘di ba?
Plano nina Mel, i-reproduce ang mapa at ipamigay sa mga paaralan para malaman ng mga kabataan ang sakop ng Pilipinas.
Full shot of the Murillo Velarde map.
The Murillo Velarde map as it appears in a Sotheby’s flyer.
“There’s a bully in the neighborhood. He already took over our land,” businessman Mel Velarde says, referring to China. VERA Files/Yvonne Chua
Manila | China’s basis in claiming 90% of the South China Sea is its Nine Dash Line map published and released to public on December 1, 1947. The map since then underwent several modifications.
