Maitum, Sarangani – Twenty-two bags of sherds similar to artifacts from the Metal Age anthropomorphic secondary burial jars discovered in Pinol cave here in 1991 were seized by local police and the local government is holding on to the artifacts claiming these may have come from the same area.
The nearly 2,000 year old anthropomorphic potteries excavated from the Pinol Cave here 17 years ago, was described as an “exceptional archaeological assemblage” by then National Museum Director Gabriel Casal and according to Dr. Eusebio Dizon, head of the National Museum archaeological team that dug those cultural treasures, was “unparalleled in Southeast Asia.”
The bags, seven of them sacks and 15 plastic, were loaded on a tricycle at Barangay Kawa, a coastal area, from a banca allegedly from Maguid in neighboring Palembang, Sultan Kudarat province on August 19.
But Mayor Elsie Lucille Perrett told MindaNews on September 2 that the area in Palembang where the artifacts were supposed to have been taken, “has no cave.”
The sherds were apparently sorted already as one plastic bag, for instance, contained sherds of faces and ears, eyes and mouth. Another plastic bag yielded sherds of hands and elbows.
SPO2 Regional Delfin, one of the policemen who intercepted the cargo, told MindaNews a resident who was apparently aware of the priceless value of the cultural artifacts phoned the police about the “suspicious-looking” cargo.
Delfin said they were told the cargo was to be used as “dekorasyon sa bahay” (house decoration) by the owner. The police was shown a “permit to transport” number 00003803 from the National Museum authorizing “the bearer, Mr. Jimmy Tan,” proprietor/owner of JM Antiques at 115 CM Recto Avenue in Sta. Cruz, Manila, “to transport assorted pieces of cultural properties from General Santos City to the City of Manila for the purpose of authentication and registration with the National Museum from July 16 to August 16, 2008.”
General Santos is 108 kilometers away from Maitum.
The permit was issued on July 15, 2008 by Angel Bautista, Curator I, OIC of the Cultural Properties Division.
The permit was no longer valid at the time the artifacts were seized.
Also, the bearer of the permit was not Tan himself but one Dominador Berdin of Mandaluyong City, who identified himself as Tan`s representative.
Beth Ramos, Maitum information officer, told MindaNews she immediately phoned Nida Cuevas, Team Leader of the five-person team from National Museum that came here in April to do a preliminary digging in Sagel Cave, a few hundred meters from Pinol Cave, which also yielded similar artifacts.
“She advised me to call (National Museum) Director (Corazon) Alvina but the director was not around so Ms Cuevas gave me the cellphone number of Mr. Bautista. Mr. Bautista told me not to release the artifacts because the permit had already lapsed and that they were preparing a document declaring Maitum as a site of National Cultural Treasures. Mr. Bautista assured me that they will no longer issue another permit,” Ramos told MindaNews.
On August 28, however, Berdin returned to the police station showing another “permit to transport” number 0003845 from the National Museum, valid allegedly from August 17 to September 17. But the date of issuance of the permit was “26 August 2008.”
The permit was issued by Cecilio G. Salcedo, Acting Director III.
The “transport to permit” this time included Berdin`s name but it was apparently prepared hastily as Berdin is not identified as Tan`s representative but also “owner.”
The permits says “This is to authorize the bearer (sic)Mr. Jimmy Tan and Mr. Dominador M. Berdin, Proprietor/owner (sic) of JM Antiques…”
The permit specified the number of bags to transport: “seven sacks and 10 plastic bags” and the “cultural properties” had now become “broken earthenware potteries from Sultan Kudarat.”
Ramos said she phoned Bautista for clarification but learned he was in the Netherlands. Ramos was advised to call on September 1.
On September 1, Mayor Perrett called National Museum Director Alvina and informed the latter that she will not release the artifacts because the representative of Tan could not present a permit to excavate or a deed of sale. Dir. Alvina told the mayor that she will investigate the permits issued.
In 1974, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree 374 which amended some sections of Republic Act 4846 or the Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act, to stop the commercialization of Philippine relics.
The law noted that “the commercialization of Philippine relics from the contact period, the Neolithic Age, and the Paleolithic Age, has reached a point perilously placing beyond reach of savants the study and reconstruction of Philippine prehistory” and “more stringent regulation on movement and a limited form of registration of important cultural properties and of designated national cultural treasures is necessary, and that regardless of the item, any cultural property exported or sold locally must be registered with the National Museum to control the deplorable situation regarding our national cultural properties and to implement the Cultural Properties Law.”
Cuevas` team in April, said Sagel Cave which is near Pinol Cave is “possibly contemporaneous.”
But the team also said “studies of Metal Age societies in Mindanao are very limited and the Pinol area of Sarangani Province is very significant in providing scientific data on this subject.”
The team recommended that “the Pinol area (both caves and open areas),” located 17 kilometers from the town hall, “be protected from earth moving activities including quarrying, treasure hunting, and other similar activities.”
“There is great potential for developing cultural tourism in the area that can economically benefit communities residing in the vicinities. As such, a program for conservation/protection, archaeological exploration and excavation of sites in the Pinol area is necessary,” the team said.
The municipality of Maitum on April 15 unanimously passed Resolution 2008-048 m, declaring Sagel Cave an archaeological site.
The resolution noted that the artifacts “could be used as material evidences for the determination of Maguindanao prehistory and of course the Filipino people in general.”
It also said that “the archeological find which our Southeast Asian neighbors do not have will likewise help boost the tourism industry of Maitum and eventually provide sustainable livelihood for the people near the area and the whole Maitum.”
Dr. Eusebio Dizon, whose team dug the anthropomorphic jars in 1991 and who co-wrote the book “Faces from Maitum” with team member Rey Santiago, described the find in the early 1990s as “unparalleled in Southeast Asia.”
The jars, bearing radiocarbon dates of "1930 plus or minus 50 BP (calibrated date of 5 BC to AD 225) and 1830 plus or minus 60 BP (calibrated date of AD 70 to 370)," are unique in that "they are like portraits of distinct individuals, of specific dead persons whose remains they guard," Dizon and Rey Santiago said in their book, "Faces from Maitum."
Dizon and Santiago said the discovery of the burial jars is “very important in our study of Philippine prehistory” as it can provide “significant clues and material evidences for the determination of the Maguindanao prehistory.” Carolyn O. Arguillas
Source: http://www.mindanews.com (September 03, 2008)