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A wealth of stories from the Murillo Velarde map

Published by Ellen on June 10, 2015

Looking at the almost 300- year-old Philippine map by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde which businessman Mel Velarde acquired for P12 million in an auction in London last year, one can see that the Jesuit priest is a great storyteller.

A portion of the Murillo Velarde map
A portion of the Murillo Velarde map

The 1734 Murillo Velarde map shows more than just locations. It has two panels on both sides engraved with images depicting lifestyles and special features of places. One panel shows a farmer plowing the field not far from a river with crocodiles. It’s noted that in Zamboanga, there’s “Pozo de Agua Dulce.” In general it showed Filipinos enjoying a highly civilized society.

But the most significant feature of the Murillo Velarde map is a tiny spot off the shores of Nueva Castilla, which was then the name of Luzon labeled “Panacot.”

Continue readingA wealth of stories from the Murillo Velarde map

PH to submit 300-year-old map to UN in case vs China

Published by Ellen on June 7, 2015
Sotheby Murillo map
Sotheby Murillo map

By Ellen T. Tordesillas,VERA Files

The Philippine government will be submitting to the Permanent Court for Arbitration 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).

Continue readingPH to submit 300-year-old map to UN in case vs China