MANILA – 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 âPanacot,â also called âPanatagâ 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.
Close up of Panacot (Panatag/Scarborough) Shoal in the Murillo Velarde map, presented by Justice Antonio Carpio at a lecture.
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 Sothebyâs 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.
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 Englandâs 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 Carpioâs convincing line was: âYou know, man, you’re a Velarde.”
Carpio, who has been conducting lectures debunking Chinaâs claim of almost the entire South China Sea, calls the Murillo Velarde map the âMother of all Philippine maps.â
Local public and private museums declined to take part in the Sothebyâs bid. The National Museum was interested but didnât 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 as it appears in a Sotheby’s flyer.
The Murillo Velarde map measures 1,120 by 1,200 mm. The Sothebyâs catalog carried a description of the map by Filipino historian and biographer Carlos Quirino: âMurillo Velardeâs 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.â
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.Â
Newspaper reports said heavy rains had âcaused a culvert on the Duke of Northumberland’s land to collapse. Many residents were evacuated and some homes demolished after the foundations were damaged.â
Although the Dukeâs 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 familyâs 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.
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 in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, âThe Murillo Velarde map of 1734 is quite rare, with less than 50 known copies to exist in the entire universe.â
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 Sothebyâs auction took place at 9 p.m, Manila time while Velarde was in a Resorts World steakhouse for his motherâs 78th birthday dinner.
Velarde described the bidding, which lasted only for three to four minutes, as âfurious.â
He was on the phone before Sothebyâs 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 â30,000 pounds,⦠ 40,000 pounds⦠50,000 pounds. Fifty-five, sixty.â  He said, âIt seemed like so many were bidding.â
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.
Businessman Mel Velardo looks at the reproduction of the 1734 Murillo map he now owns. Photo by Yvonne Chua.
Then images of the Chinese occupying the contested islands in the Spratlys came to mind, he said, and he decided to proceed.
âPansariling 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 U.N. International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea against China. âYou need some evidence,â he said.
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?
âIn a true-to-life movie, there’s a part for everybody. Thereâs a bully in the neighborhood. He already took over our land. We have soldiers in the Spratlys. Naka-standby lang sila(Theyâre just on standby there),â Velarde said.
âThen, this map is owned by a Duke in a Harry Potter castle. Itâs like you wanting to play your part in the movie,â 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 âtrue.â)
A 300-year-old map will be submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in The Hague as proof that the Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal is part of Philippine territory.
According to a CNN report, the map is known as the Murillo Velarde map, originally called “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas”. It was first published in 1734 in Manila by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit priest.
According to CNN, the map could help strengthen the country’s arbitration case as it debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim.
In a separate report, The Philippine Star quoted Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda as saying that the map “would certainly present the side of the Philippines when it comes to any historical basis”. He also said the Philippines has a “strong” case against China, which is claiming virtually the entire South China Sea.
An aristocrat who owns the “Harry Potter” castle had a map which could become the Philippines’ strongest evidence against China’s recent claims on the Scarborough Shoal.
A 300-year-old map of the Philippines, until recently, was in the possession of Ralph George Algernon Percy, the Duke of Northumberland, who owns the Alnwick Castle a.k.a the “Harry Potter” castle.
The rare map was called “Carta Hydrographia y chorogphica de las Yslas Filipinas” and was published by a Jesuit priest named Pedro Murillo Velarde in Manila in 1734, with only 50 copies to have ever existed in the whole world. It reportedly shows the disputed Scarborough Shoal within the Philippines’ area of sovereignty.
Not one copy of the map had resurfaced, until recently, when the British Duke put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London to help his neighbors pay for about £12 million worth of property damage repairs following a devastating flood in the Northumberland County in April 2012.
When it was put up for auction in November 2014, Filipino businessman named Mel Velarde wasted no time and bid for the piece of paper that might be his country’s strongest evidence against China in the dispute on the Scarborough Shoal.
The bidding for the map started at £30,000.
“30,000 pounds…40,000 pounds…50,000 pounds…55, 56… It seemed like so many were bidding,” Velarde told ABS CBN News, adding that the bidding was “furious.”
Initially, Velarde only wanted to bid as high as £80,000, knowing that the Philippines’ National Museum is only allowed to buy items for as high as P5 million (about $125,000) but then he thought of the Chinese claiming his country’s land and ended up winning the bid for £170,500 ($260,000).
“It became a personal crusade,” Velarde said who, later on, donated the map to the Philippines’ National Museum.
Asked about the involvement of the Harry Potter castle owner in what might be the solution to the island dispute against China, Velarde likened the experience to a movie.
“In a true-to-life movie, there’s a part for everybody. There’s a bully in the neighborhood,” He 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.”
The map measures 1,120 mm x 1,200 mm and described by Sotheby’s as “the first scientific map of the Philippines.”
Isusumite ng pamahalaan ng Pilipinas sa Permanent Court of Arbitation sa The Hague ang isang 300-taong gulang na mapa ng bansa bilang ebidensya laban sa nine-dash-line claim ng China.
Ang nasabing mapa ay ginawa ni Jesuit Priest Pedro Murillo Velarde noong 1734 kung saan ipinapakitang bahagi ng teritoryo ng bansa ang Panacot Shoal na ngayo’y kilala bilang Panatag o Scarborough Shoal.
Rineserba ng kasalukuyang may-ari na si Filipino Businessman Mel Velarde ang kauna-unahang certified true copy para sa Malacañang at ipepresenta ito kay Pangulong Noynoy Aquino sa Hunyo 12 kasabay ng Araw ng Kalayaan ng bansa.
Samantala, nabili ng nasabing negosyante ang mapa mula sa isang British lord noong 2012 kung saan pina-auction ito at nakuha ni Mel Velarde sa halagang 170,500 pounds o P12,014,463.09 ang mapa noong Oktubre 2014.
Ito’y matapos siya kumbinsihin ng kanyang kaibigang si Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio na subukang bilhin ang itinuring ng hukom bilang Mother of All Philippine Maps.
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 Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – 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.
According to Secretary Edwin Lacierda, presidential spokesperson, the map will help strengthen the country’s arbitration case as it debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim.
PH, China still friends
Lacierda, meanwhile, assured on Monday (June 8) that the Philippines and China remain friends amid the increasing tensions in disputed parts of the Spratly Islands.
He said the Philippines has no conflict with China as the two countries’ relationship is not solely dependent on the territorial dispute and that one should look beyond the West Philippine Sea issue in viewing their relations.
Aquino, in fact, is set to attend the anniversary of the Philippines-China Diplomatic Relations and the 14th Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day on Monday night – proof that the country continues to establish good relations with the Asian giant.
“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.
CNN Philippines’ Anjo Alimario and JC Gotinga contributed to this report.
Manila . June 8 (CNA) The Philippine government will submit 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 dating back three centuries ago, a local media has reported.
VERA Files said Philippine businessman Mel Velarde bought the old map for 170,500 British pounds (US$259,723) at a Sotheby’s London auction in November 2014.
The report noted that Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde published the map in Manila in 1734, which debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of its claim over the South China Sea.
The old map, 112 cm long and 120 cm wide, locates Scarborough shoal, then known as “Panacot,” also called “Panatag” by Filipinos, off the shores of Luzon, then known as “Nueva Castilla. China refers to it as Huangyan Island,
Velarde said that he was bidding through the telephone and when the bidding price came to 80,000 pounds, he was wondering whether to continue to bid, but then he realized it could be used as a evidence in international arbitration.
Reports said Velarde will personally present it to President Benigno Aquino III on June 12, the anniversary of Philippine independence.
In April 2012, Philippine and Chinese ships became locked in a standoff near Scarborough Shoal, and after the withdrawal of the Philippine vessels, China seized control of the disputed atoll.
In January 2013, Manila submitted the dispute for international arbitration. In February 2014, it submitted a nearly 4,000-page petition and related evidence. Beijing refused to take part in the arbitration procedure.
The Philippines expects the results of the arbitration to appear in the first half of the 2016.
Several countries, including Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam, claim part or the whole of the South China Sea.
300-year-old map to boost PH case vs China – Palace
by Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 06/08/2015 4:26 PM
Businessman Mel Velardo looks at the reproduction of the 1734 Murillo map he now owns.Photo by Yvonne Chua
MANILA – Malacañang said that the submission of a 300-year-old map to the international tribunal will boost the case of the Philippines in questioning China’s territorial claim over the South China Sea.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Philippines has “a strong case.”
“Let me just emphasize the fact that China never participated, in fact, refused to participate in the arbitration in the [International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea]. However, 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,” Lacierda said.
MANILA – 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.
Close up of Panacot (Panatag/Scarborough) Shoal in the Murillo Velarde map, presented by Justice Antonio Carpio at a lecture.
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.
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 as it appears in a Sotheby’s flyer.
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.
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.
Full shot of the Murillo Velarde map.
Historian Ambeth Ocampo wrote in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “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.
Businessman Mel Velardo looks at the reproduction of the 1734 Murillo map he now owns. Photo by Yvonne Chua.
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 U.N. International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea against China. “You need some evidence,” he said.
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.
Businessman Mel Velarde. Photo by Yvonne Chua.
“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 nieces 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.”)
