BALANGIGA BELLS RETURN TO PH AFTER 117 YEARS
Three bells taken as war booty by American soldiers from Balangiga, Eastern Samar, more than a century ago were flown back to the country on Tuesday on a US military plane in a move long demanded by Filipino leaders, closing a dark episode in the treaty allies’ love-hate relationship.
American Ambassador Sung Kim and representatives of US Defense Secretary James Mattis handed back the bells of Balangiga to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a solemn ceremony at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
The bells are revered by Filipinos as symbols of national pride, particularly of their struggle for independence.
“It is my great honor to be here at this closing of a painful chapter in our history,” Kim said. “Our relationship has withstood the tests of history and flourishes today.”
Gesture of friendship
Mattis earlier said the handover was an important gesture of friendship and was in the US national security interest. Some US veterans and officials had opposed the return of the bells, calling them memorials to American war dead.
Two of the bells had been displayed at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the third had been with the US Army in South Korea.
Returning the Balangiga bells meets a decades-old demand from the former US colony at a time when the two nations’ ties have been rattled by President Duterte’s pivot to China.
“The bells of Balangiga will once again peal, it will still remind the people of Balangiga of what happened in the town square more than a century ago,” Lorenzana said.
After being colonized by Spain for more than three centuries, the Philippines became a US possession in 1898 in a new colonial era that began with the outbreak of the Philippine-American War.
Bolo-wielding villagers
American occupation troops took the bells from a Catholic church in Balangiga following an attack on Sept. 28, 1901, by bolo-wielding Filipino villagers, who killed 48 US soldiers in the town in one of the US Army’s worst single-battle losses of that era.
The Filipinos suffered 28 dead and 22 wounded.
One of the bells had been sounded to signal the attack by the villagers, some of whom were disguised as women who hid in the church near an American garrison, according to historian Rolando Borrinaga.
The Americans retaliated, reportedly killing thousands of villagers above the age of 10, and a US general, Jacob Smith, ordered Samar to be turned into a “howling wilderness,” Borrinaga said.
In his State of the Nation Address last year, Mr. Duterte, who has had an antagonistic attitude toward the United States, asked Washington to “return (the bells) to us.”
“Give us back those Balangiga bells .... They are part of our national heritage,” he said.
Years of lobbying
Their return follows years of lobbying by former Presidents, priests and historians, and challenges from Wyoming veterans and lawmakers opposed to dismantling a war memorial, resulting in legislation that barred their removal.
Mr. Duterte’s supporters have claimed his willingness to stand up to American influence was key to the bells’ return, but history professor Francis Gealogo of Ateneo de Manila University, said the process was more complicated.
“No single President can claim credit to it,” he said. “The credit should be given to the Filipino people who campaigned vigorously and actively.”
Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez, told The Associated Press ( AP) last week that with the bitter issue of the bells now resolved, he expected a strong US-Philippine alliance.
US-PH defense alliance
Mr. Duterte has lashed out regularly at Washington, despite a tight US-Philippines defense alliance.
He has condemned what he sees as the United States’ history of hypocrisy, arrogance and political interference.
Philippine officials led by Mr. Duterte will turn over the bells on Saturday to the church in Balangiga.
“This is a closure of that brutal and tragic episode during the Philippine-American War,” Borrinaga said. “It’s like starting a new relationship premised on peace, friendship and reconciliation.”
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the return of the bells was “historic and unprecedented.”
He said Filipinos and Americans who worked tirelessly for the bells’ return “will be remembered as true friends of the Philippines and of Filipino heritage.”
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the bells “symbolize our quest for peace, justice and freedom” and their return would “further enhance the mutual relationship and cooperation between the Philippines and the United States for peace and development.”
“This will put a closure of the remaining irritant of the Philippine-American war,” he said in a statement.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the United States should also issue an official and public apology for the atrocities committed in Samar and compensate the descendants of the victims.
“These bells are emblematic of the continuing injustice committed against our country and people in the name of the hegemonic and imperialist greed of America,” the leftist congressman said in a statement.