Rody to skip turnover of bells, attend Samar rites

President Duterte will skip the handover of the historic Balangiga bells today and will instead attend the turnover rites at the site where the bells were seized by the American troops more than a century ago.

Duterte was supposed to lead the handover ceremony at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, but decided to skip the event upon the recommendation of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, according to presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo.

“The President will be in Samar on Saturday to lead the turnover of the bells to Balangiga officials,” Panelo said.

But Lorenzana said he was unaware of the President’s reasons.

“I am just following the order of Malacañang,” Lorenzana told journalists.

“Originally, he was not supposed to go to Balangiga for the turnover. He was supposed to be at the Villamor Air Base today for the handover. But since he would go to Balangiga, he would no longer go to Villamor to witness the turnover,” he said, referring to the President.

It was not clear why Duterte changed his mind.

One of the three bells rang seconds after Filipino guerrillas attacked American troops in Eastern Samar.

Forty-eight American servicemen were killed during the offensive, which prompted the US military to launch a retaliatory attack, which resulted in the death of more than 2,500 Filipinos and the seizure of the bells.

The Balangiga bells will be coming home today as the US government saw the return of the bells as the “right thing to do” and an “opportunity to close a chapter,” but not due to any particular event or statement.

After 117 years, the bells which have sat on the grounds of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming will arrive at Villamor Air Base.

Molly Koscina, spokesperson for the US embassy, said the return of the bells is the “right thing to do” and a demonstration of the US commitment to the friendship, partnership and alliance with the Philippines.

“Tomorrow of course is history in the making. The return of the bells is the end of many, many years of efforts by many, many different people to ensure the bells were returned to the church where they were taken,” Koscina said yesterday.

She said the return of the bells was made possible after the conduct of a series of negotiations and efforts as well as overcoming legal obstacles.

“Tomorrow’s ceremony really is something that we are all very much looking forward to. Of course this one is history and I would just like to share that the return of the bells is of tremendous importance to many people, Americans and Filipinos. It’s an opportunity to close a chapter and move forward, looking to the future of our enduring and important alliance,” Koscina said.

In his State of the Nation Address last year, President Duterte demanded the return of the bells from the US.

Koscina said several presidents, Cabinet officials and Filipino and US ambassadors worked together for the return of the Balangiga bells, noting that it has been decades worth of work and decades worth of US veterans’ time protesting the return of the bells.

“So there were some legal issues really. It’s time for the bells to come back but it was not due to any particular event or any particular statement. People have been working on this for many many years,” she said.

US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia Joseph Felter will accompany the bells on the plane to Manila.

US Ambassador Sung Kim will represent the US government in the ceremony today.

Two of the three bells from Wyoming were transported to Philadelphia where they were cleaned and restored.

“The two bells in Wyoming actually formed part of a memorial for fallen US service workers and the concern was removing that would take away from the memorial… lives were lost on both sides and it’s never easy to give up something that you see as a memorial to people who did pass away,” Koscina said.

Replicas of the Balangiga bells, she said, were made.

Koscina refused to comment on the possibility of the Philippines asking for the return of other artifacts stored in some museums in the US.

She said the return of the bells is in line with American and Philippine values.