Veterans’ efforts pave way of bells return
President Rodrigo Duterte might have been vocal on his demands to the American government to return the Balangiga bells to the Philippines but the campaign was more of a veterans-to-veterans effort, a historian said.
Rolando Borrinaga, secretary of the National Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, said that "in the American scheme of things, it boils down to paper trail."
"There has been no paper from the Philippines related to this campaign. It seems like a successful legislation in the US to return the bells to us," Borrinaga told ABS-CBN's Bandila on Tuesday night.
Two major war veteran organizations in the US have started the campaign to return the church bells taken from Balangiga, Eastern Samar as war booty more than a century ago.
About two or three years ago, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion started the campaign on convincing the larger community of war veterans in the US to return the bells to the Philippines, according to Borrinaga.
"They committed resolutions so that their national organizations... This basically influenced US politicians to pass the law allowing the return of the bells to the Philippines," Borrinaga said.
The two war veteran groups have convinced the US Congress to return the bells as it is the "right thing to do."
The Filipino historian was referring to the US National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, a special legislation "allowing the exception of transfer of veterans memorial objects to foreign countries without specific authorization in law."
OPPOSING VIEWS
Wyoming's legislators and veterans groups, however, have been opposing the return of the church bells that serve as a memorial for fallen American soldiers.
Two of the bells are at the F.E. Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyoming and the third one is with the US Army base in South Korea.
Steven Kravinsky, executive director of the Wyoming Veterans Commission, said the bells have an emotional attachment to Wyoming veterans.
"Sending them back would dishonor the soldiers that were killed in the Philippines," Kravinsky said in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio.
The return of the Balangiga bells to the Philippines would serve as a closure on the PhilippineAmerican war, according to Borrinaga.
"The return of the bells is basically the last issue of contention pertaining to the Philippine-American war and there would be a closure over that aspect of our history," Borrinaga said.
The target date to return the bells to the country is by mid-December. The bells will be returned to the church in Balangiga where they were taken from as part of the original agreements between the veterans.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, along with Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, will attend a ceremony on Thursday (Manila time) at F.E. Warren Air Force Base that would mark the beginning of the process to return the bells to the Philippines.