The Alliance Française de Manille on Friday launched an exhibition that includes uncommon maps from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map, referred to as the “Mother of all Philippine Maps.”
Titled “Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys in Ancient Maps: An Exhibition,” it featured the map assortment of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map, acquired by Filipino businessman Mel Velasco Velarde at a Sotheby’s public sale in London in 2012.
Velarde stated that the “Mother of all Philippine Maps” was used on the arbitration tribunal to again up the Philippines’ proper and possession over the Scarborough Shoal within the West Philippine Sea.
This is the primary map that gave a reputation to Scarborough Shoal, or “panacot” in Tagalog, which suggests hazard.
“I’m not just lending the map to the institution, I’m donating it to the government permanently as long as you will give it a permanent place,” Velarde stated, including that he’s very honored to take part within the exhibit, donating the official reproduction.
Velarde stated Carpio inspired him to bid for the map for it to be displayed in a public museum within the Philippines.
Carpio, additionally a visitor of honor on the exhibit, mentioned the significance of the traditional maps in Philippine historical past and in proving our territory.
“This is the Mother of all Philippine Maps because this is a living document. It determines Philippine territory today. You cannot determine Philippine territory without reference to this map,” Carpio stated.
“We have to go back to that map to determine the islands belonging in the Philippine archipelago. There’s no other map,” he added.
“That’s why we have to have a copy of this map in the national library so that students, will go there and see that Scarborough Shoal is part of part of the Philippines,” Carpio stated.
The exhibit will run from April 21 to May 20, 2023, on the Alliance Française de Manille in Makati City.
It was organized by Alliance Française de Manille, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC), and the Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs.
Carta Hydrographica Y Chorographica De La Yslas Filipinas, first printed in Manila in 1734, is regarded by historians because the “Mother of all Philippine Maps” made by the Spanish Jesuit Friar Pedro Murillo Velarde with two Filipinos, Francisco Suarez, who drew the map, and Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay, who engraved it.
Velarde believes that possession of the map is each Filipino’s birthright, as he donated the map to the federal government as a present to the Filipinos.
Meanwhile, a number of replicas are repeatedly being donated by Velarde to varied authorities businesses, tutorial establishments, and personal organizations as a part of a nationwide public consciousness marketing campaign on the map and its significance to Philippine cultural heritage.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
