National Museum features meteorites that fell on Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The National Museum of the Philippines has shown to the public its collection of meteorites as the country commemorated Museums and Galleries Month and World Space Week.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the museum management said the special exhibition at the Godofredo Alcasid Function Hall in the National Museum of Natural History features three of the six confirmed meteorites that fell on the Philippines.

These are the Orconuma meteorite that landed in Barangay Orconuma in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro in 2011, the Pantar meteorite that fell in Lanao del Norte on June 16, 1938 and the Bondoc meteorite found in Bondoc Peninsula, Quezon in 1956.

The museum thanked the donor, Abraham Catiis, for entrusting the museum with the Pantar and Bondoc meteorites during the turnover on Sept. 22.

On July 8, the museum received the specimen of the Orconuma meteorite from geologist Aubrey Whymark, who facilitated the donation from John Higgins and Jasper Spencer.

Three Filipino farmers – Fredo Manzano, Edgar Francisco Sr. and Enrico Camacho Jr. – witnessed the fall of the 7.8-kilogram Orconuma meteorite and took care of it after it landed in their fields on March 7, 2011.

The Orconuma, Pantar and Bondoc meteorites are listed in the Meteoritical Society’s Bulletin Database.