BALANGIGA REVISITED

As President Rodrigo Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address (SoNA) draws near on 26 July — a Monday — allow us to look back at one of his achievements early in his term.

The return of the Balangiga bells by the government of the United States to the Philippines on 11 December was an event that was among the highlights of the Duterte presidency that is about to close in less than a year.

Was Duterte instrumental in the return of these bells? Yes, he was. What are these bells?

We’re talking about three bells. The first was cast in 1853, a year before the Church of Balangiga in Eastern Samar was dedicated to the Roman martyr San Lorenzo; the second was made in 1889, and is only a tad smaller than the first; while the third — that played a big part in the country’s history — was cast in 1895.

The smallest bell served the purpose of sending out alarms to the Samareños during times of distress and danger, but not on 28 September 1901 when it tolled to signal the start of the Filipino fighters’ attack on the soldiers of Company C, or the 9th Infantry Regiment that had served in the American Indian War prior to its detail in Samar.

The American soldiers treated the Filipinos as they saw the Indians in their yet very far past at that time. Torture of the locals was prevalent, no justice worked, and even the women were abused and disrespected by the battle-hardened bunch.

That attack, known in history as the “Balangiga Massacre,” resulted in the death of 48 American soldiers and injuries to 22 more. It was considered the worst single defeat of the Americans in the Philippine Islands.

The weeks that followed were like hell for the Filipinos. The 11th Infantry Regiment came to Company C’s rescue, with General Jacob Smith giving out an order to turn Samar into a “howling wilderness.” All males — thousands of them — aged 10 and above who could lift a bolo were killed.

Soon after pacifying the island, Smith’s men left with all three bells with them as war booty. Two bells were enshrined at the Trophy Park of the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming; and the third bell was placed in a US Army unit in Tongduchon, South Korea.

“It was considered the worst single defeat of the Americans in the Philippine Islands.

“Consider Duterte lucky — or shrewd — for having retrieved these artifacts of Philippine history and religion.

The Philippines had long demanded the return of these bells, with the first attempt aired in 1958.

It began with an appeal from a Filipino priest and historian, then the American Franciscan Fathers of Negros Oriental, to the efforts by the Balangiga Historical Society, the National Historical Institute and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Several personalities had added their voices and signatures to the call for their return. Former President

Fidel V. Ramos, the late Senators Heherson Alvarez and

Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, the offer to return by no less than former US President “Bill” Clinton, Filipino historian

Rolando Borrinaga and his many foreign and local partners, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, several American lawmakers, Senator Manny Pacquiao, Congresswoman Loren Legarda, Gary Ramirez, Bayan

Muna Representative Carlos Zarate, and many more.

President Duterte gave weight to the call for the bells’ return in his second SoNA on 24 July 2017.

This was what he said:

“Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Those bells are reminders of the gallantry and heroism of our forebears who resisted the American colonizers and sacrificed their lives in the process.”

His statement encapsulated the bells’ meaning to us, Filipinos.

So, after 117 years, on 11 December 2018, or a year later after Duterte’s second SoNA, the bells were home.

These bells’ homecoming was preceded by the return of yet another bell — that of the San Pedro of Bauang Church — on 23 May 2016. It was also taken by the Americans in 1901.

So, consider Duterte lucky — or shrewd — for having retrieved these artifacts of Philippine history and religion despite his departure from the Philippines’ alliance with the United States, and his constantly rocky relationship with the Catholic Church right at the very start of his presidency.

That’s a feat in itself.