National Museum probes alleged looting of burial caves by Japanese

An archeologist has called the attention of the National Museum of the Philippines to the reported looting of 500-year-old skeletal remains from two archeological sites in El Nido, Palawan. In a letter dated May 11, Dr. Victor Paz said all the bones in Maulohin Cave and Istar Cairn — both on the island of Imorigue in New Ibajay town — have been stolen by Japanese descendants of missing World War II soldiers. He noted that they took bones from burial caves believing they were Japanese. "We write to report to the National Museum a dastardly act done to our archaeological resources and collective heritage," Paz wrote. Paz, a research associate of the National Museum, said he represents the members of the Palawan Island Palaeohistoric Research Project (PIPRP) team. The National Museum said it will investigate not only the looting incidents on Imorigue Island but other similar cases. “We will send people to Palawan and let them investigate with local government and police what really transpired there," National Museum deputy director Cecilio Salcedo said in an interview with GMA News Online on Thursday. The Japanese Embassy in Manila, on the other hand, maintained that it has “no clear information" regarding Paz’s claim. “We are very sorry but we would like to decline to give any comment [on the incident]," it said in an e-mail to GMA News Online on Thursday.
Request for formal queries Paz said the looting done on two ancestral Filipino ossuaries in El Nido "is a wanton disregard of our heritage... The collecting activity continued despite clear signages that these remains were not Japanese." Although Paz admitted that there was no quick way to determine the ethnicity of bones collected, there is "certainty that the bones are definitely not Japanese soldiers who died during the 1940s, given the condition of their preservation and the context of their curation in association with metal period pottery sherds and tradeware ceramic sherds." "We appeal to the National Museum to lead the nation in formal queries with the Japanese government towards a review of its policy that supports unsystematic and unconfirmable collection of human remains in the Philippines," Paz said. Paz asked the National Museum to help identify the people behind the looting and to stop similar activities. "At the rate the looting is going, we will have nothing left for future generations of Filipinos to protect and learn from," Paz said. "Known facts" In his letter, Paz, citing what he called as "known facts," said "the sites of Maulohin and Istar were visited by Japanese nationals with local guides, who carefully sorted and sacked all the bones." However, the guards in the area got in the way of the foreigners, Paz said. "The bones were not carted away after they were challenged by locals, who witnessed the event, about the legality of what they were doing — if they had permits from the National Museum," he added. In May 2010, the PIPRP team had asked the guards to surrender the sacks of bones to them so that they could bring the remains back to Maulohin and Istar ossuaries. "The PIPRP team excavating in Dewil valley, New Ibajay, persuaded the concessionaire for Imorigue to direct his guards to surrender the sacks of bones to the team," Paz said. "The team returned the bones to their proper place in the two sites. One larger plastic sack contained materials from a site not known to the team. The materials were covered in very dark guano and contained mostly shell artefacts that may have been mistaken for human bones," Paz added. "This assemblage was deposited inside [Istar]. Signages were written and placed in clear view for both sites explaining in Filipino and English that these human remains are ancestral Filipinos," he said. Unconfirmed reports In his letter, Paz also cited "unconfirmed information from interviews" that from January to February last year, "a Japanese group came to Imorgiue in a large white speed boat." "There were allegedly ten Japanese students, an older sensei man, and a tall older Japanese woman who could speak good Filipino and acted as an interpreter for the group. At Maulohin, an eyewitness saw several of the members of the group cry when they saw the pile of bones inside the cave," Paz said. — VVP/HS, GMA News