An official replica of the “oldest” scientific map of the Philippines has been given as a gift to the Cebuano people by businessman Mel Velasco Velarde on October 12, birthday of Gov. Gwen Garcia.
The map, called “Mother of all Philippine Maps”, measures 1120 x 1200 mm. It was personally received by Governor Gwen Garcia, along with Vice Governor Hilario Davide III and the members of the Cebu Provincial Board.
The Murillo Velarde 1734 Map was first published in Manila in 1734 by the Jesuit cartographer Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, the first scientific map ever produced depicting the Philippine archipelago.
It was used by the Philippines in asserting its sovereign rights in the disputed territories of the West Philippine Sea before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where the Philippines demonstrated that not only did it have legal bases for its claims, but also historical rights vested by the map which recognized as early as 1700s, that the Kalayaan Group of Islands and Scarborough Shoal are part of the Philippine territory.
“This is to award the Province of Cebu for the role it played in the past 500 years,” said Velarde, whose father was born in Oslob, Cebu. | Babie Jane Revecoy
