The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) today formally declared the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map as a National Cultural Treasure, cementing its unparalleled historical, artistic, and cultural significance to the Filipino nation.
The official declaration ceremony was held this morning, December 11, 2025, at the 4th floor lobby of the NLP building along Kalaw Avenue in Manila, where cultural heritage officials, historians, cultural advocates, and scholars gathered to witness the momentous event.
Opening messages from NLP Director IV Gilbert Q. Adriano and a keynote reflection from Former Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio underscored the vital role archives play in defining national identity and protecting historical truth.
The program featured heritage scholars, including Dr. Michael Charleston “Xiao” B. Chua and Archivist Eruel Olvina, who presented the historical and cultural significance of the newly declared National Cultural Treasures.
Dubbed the “Mother of all Philippine Maps,” the Carta Hydrographica y Chronologica de las Islas Filipinas was created by Spanish Jesuit cartographer Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde together with Filipino artists Francisco Suárez and Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay.
It is considered the first scientific map of the Philippines and a primary source for understanding the archipelago’s geography, settlements, and maritime routes during the Spanish colonial era.
The map is adorned with 12 vignettes, or border panels, depicting daily life in the Philippines at the time, offering invaluable ethnographic and artistic insights. In recent years, the map has gained significant stature as historical evidence asserting the Philippines’ maritime claims in the West Philippine Sea.
The same recognition was accorded to the Acta de la Proclamacion de Independencia del Pueblo Filipino, a document that records the proclamation of independence of the Filipino people from Spain.
The Map as “Soul of the Nation”
Mr. Mel V. Velarde, Chairman of NOW Corporation and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, presented the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map as the very soul of the nation—a soul that endured silencing, fragmentation, and exile and has now been formally restored to the Filipino people.
He traced the ancient roots of the Filipino soul to the seafaring Austronesians: to balangays, oral traditions, celestial navigation, and the shared values forged through maritime life. He recounted how colonization muted that soul for centuries until Jose Rizal gave it a voice and awakened national consciousness. Velarde asked, “If Rizal expressed the cry of the broken Soul, where is the proof that we were once whole?”
Velarde’s answer was the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map, a document that captured the nation’s memory before historical amnesia set in.
He explained that within the map lies a constellation of “Ten Truths”—insights revealing the Filipino Soul’s wholeness, diversity, excellence, values, ecological abundance, resilience, and prophetic destiny. He emphasized that the map does not merely depict geography but embodies a collective identity formed by the melding of native mastery, Jesuit scientific discipline, and the deep oceanic memory of the Austronesian world.
In presenting these truths, Velarde underscored that the map completes a great Triad of Nationhood: Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo as the awakening of the Mind, the 1898 Declaration of Independence as the embodiment of the Will, and the Murillo Velarde 1734 Map as the enduring vessel of the Soul. Through this triad—mind, will, and soul—the Filipino identity stands whole, unshakable, and unconquerable.
He also highlighted how the signatures of Filipino artisans, Bagay and Suárez, along with the imagery of a culturally diverse archipelago, assert dignity, agency, and early harmony. He described the map as both scientific and spiritual, a product of collaboration across cultures, and a reminder of a land once defined by abundance rather than scarcity.
Velarde reminded the audience that the map continues to serve the nation today, having played a decisive role in the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral victory over the West Philippine Sea.
At the heart of his message was a powerful declaration—that the Filipino Soul engraved in copper in 1734 still protects, guides, and inspires the nation.
Velarde concluded his speech with gratitude to the NLP, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), and the Filipino people, affirming: “Mabuhay ang Pambansang Aklatan. Mabuhay ang ating mga Pambansang Yamang Pangkultura. At mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino.”
