Ilonggo artist Jeanroll Ejar donates artifacts to UPV MACH

ILOILO CITY — Ilonggo artist and antique collector Jeanroll Ejar has again donated significant artifacts to the University of the Philippines Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage (UPV MACH).

The latest donation includes more than 120 pieces of trade ceramics from China’s Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Annamese ceramics from Vietnam, and Sukhothai or Sangkhalok ware from Thailand.

The collection provides material evidence of cultural exchanges in the region and the extent of maritime trade networks across Southeast Asia.

Ejar previously contributed more than 50 pieces of Metal Age terracotta pottery from Isla de Gigantes and Bacong on Negros Island, as well as pre-World War II bricks produced in Iloilo.

In addition to the ceramics, Ejar donated a copy of José Rizal’s “El Filibusterismo,” translated into Hiligaynon/Binisaya by Ulpiano Vergara and Rosendo Mejica and published by Mejica’s Makinaugalingon Press.

Ejar, now among UPV MACH’s largest artifact donors, signed the deed of donation and formally turned over his latest contributions to Martin Genodepa, director of the Office of Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (OICA).

UPV formally launched UPV MACH in October 2022 at its Iloilo City campus as a university museum dedicated to art and cultural heritage exhibitions, programs, and education.

The growing number of donors to UPV MACH reflects the trust that collectors and artists place in the university museum.

The museum welcomed 6,913 visitors through the end of August 2026 after drawing nearly 10,000 students and tourists to its eight galleries in 2025.

Select pieces from Ejar’s donations, including the trade ceramics, are now on display at the Duna Intangible Cultural Heritage Gallery.

The Hiligaynon/Binisaya edition of “El Filibusterismo” is featured in “Lapnag: Cultivating Knowledge Through Print,” an exhibition on printing at UPV MACH’s Lantip Changing Exhibition Gallery 1. (OICA)