US TO WORK WITH PH ON RETURN OF BELLS
The US Embassy says Washington is willing to find a resolution to Manila’s demand that the war trophies seized by US troops during the Philippine-American War be repatriated to Balangiga town in Eastern Samar.
The US Embassy in Manila said on Tuesday that the historic church bells of Balangiga, Eastern Samar, held a “deep significance” for the American people, but promised to work with Philippine authorities seeking their return.
President Duterte on Monday demanded that the United States return the Balangiga bells that US colonial troops seized as “spoils of war” in 1901.
Mr. Duterte raised the Balangiga Massacre in his second State of the Nation Address, as he continued his tirade against the United States while trumpeting “warmer” ties with China under an “independent” foreign policy.
“Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Isauli naman ninyo, masakit iyon sa amin (Return them to us, this is painful for us),” Mr. Duterte said.
In response, the US Embassy issued a brief statement.
“We are aware that the bells of Balangiga have deep significance for a number of people, both in the United States and in the Philippines,” it said. “We will continue to work with our Filipino partners to find a resolution.”
There were talks for the return of the Balangiga bells in the late 1990s, but these fell through.
The US Embassy did not say whether negotiations have made any progress.
The Balangiga bells are part of a defining moment of the Philippine-American War, as the pealing of the bells gave the sig- nal for Filipino guerrillas to attack the American garrison in the town in September 1901.
As a result, 48 American soldiers and 28 Filipino guerrillas were killed.
US troops retaliated by shelling the town and killing all men above 10 years old and turning Samar island into “a howling wilderness.”
The Americans also burned the church and carried off the three bells.
One is now in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Cloud, South Korea, while the two others are in a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
On Tuesday, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone filed a resolution urging the government “to take further steps and persevere in its diplomatic efforts to recover the three bells of Balangiga.”
The bells symbolize the heroism and commitment to freedom of our forefathers and ancestors who fiercely fought the abuses by the US forces at the time,” the resolution said.
Returning the bells would “erase the last vestiges of the Philippine-American War, and thereby strengthen further the relations” between the Philippines and its former occupier.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate filed a similar resolution in September last year after President Duterte delivered a speech recalling the massacre.