US returns three church bells taken as war trophies from Philippines

Three church bells taken as war trophies by US troops more than a century ago are back on Philippines soil, closing a dark chapter in relations between the two countries, who are now treaty allies.

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the three bells of Balangiga arrived at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, transported by an American C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft.

After they were unloaded in front of the air base grandstand, Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana received the relics from US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim.

Prior to the historic handover, the bells were inspected by Lorenzana and Kim who were joined by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Southeast Asia Joseph Felter, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez, and Filipino and American military officers.

“The return of the bells of Balangiga lets us reflect on the US-Philippine relationship — where we have been, where we are, where we are going,” Kim said during the ceremony.

He said that the bells had been on a “very long road home.” Many Filipinos and Americans, he added, worked tirelessly for decades to make the return of the bells possible.

It has taken more than five decades’ of initiatives and stalled negotiations before the historical relics were returned to Philippine soil. The efforts began in 1957 when Father Horacio Dela Costa wrote to American military historian Chip Wards seeking help in the return of the bells, then in the possession of the US Air Force.