SINGAPORE, 19 September 2025 – Officials of the DFA-Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office (MOAO), led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Emmanuel Donato K. Guzman joined Philippine Ambassador Medardo Macaraig for the unveiling of the 1734 Murillo Velarde Map at the Official Residence on 18 September 2025.

The 1734 Murillo Velarde Map, also called the “Carta Hydrographica Y Chorographica De Las Yslas Filipinas Manila”, is the oldest Philippine map which shows that Panatag Shoal or Scarborough Shoal has always been part of the Philippines’ territory. The map was instrumental in the country’s 2016 arbitration case over the dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Guzman was joined by MOAO Acting Director Edward D. Chan, Office of ASEAN Affairs Acting Director Josel N. Mostajo and MOAO Principal Assistant Ashyanna Alexine Adia Amira-labi A. Bangcola. The DFA delegation is in Singapore to attend the 49th ASEAN-China Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the South China Sea (49th JWG-DOC) held from 17 to 19 September 2025. 

The 1734 Murillo Velarde Map was presented by Secretary of National Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. through the Philippine Defense and Armed Forces Attaché (DAFA) on 27 September 2024. The framed replica of the “Mother of all Philippine Maps” was first displayed at the temporary office of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore at Triple One Somerset prior to its installation at the Official Residence of the Philippine Ambassador as part of the Embassy’s commemoration of the 2025 Maritime Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month. /END