Balangiga bells home tomorrow
President Duterte is set to lead the historic handover of the Balangiga bells from the United States government to the Philippines tomorrow.
The ceremony will take place at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
In a statement, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace welcomes the gesture of the United States to return the artifact that was taken from Samar 117 years ago.
“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is expected to lead in the scheduled handover of the historic bells by the United States to the Philippines,” Panelo said yesterday. “We consider the occasion as an affirmation of our strong and enduring relations with our long-standing ally, the United States, as we thank them for this gesture that would formally put a closure to a tragic and contentious episode in both our countries' history,” he added.
While the Palace is grateful for the US, Panelo said that this should serve as a reminder for them that they had once violated human rights when their soldiers massacred Filipino natives. “Siguro pinapaalalahanan natin sila na noong mga unang panahon sila ang lumabag sa karapatang pantao, at dapat na alalahanin ngayon upang maging aral sa kanila. 'Yun ang mahalaga doon,” he said.
Duterte first made an appeal to the US to return the Balangiga bells during his two-hour State-ofthe-Nation Address last year. He said the bells are "reminders of the gallantry and heroism of our forebears who resisted the American colonizers and sacrificed their lives in the process."
"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 ‘yun sa amin," Duterte said.
Almost two months later, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim disclosed that there is an ongoing effort to facilitate the return of the artifacts.
Last month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that the return of the historic bells may finally prompt Duterte to visit the United States. "Well, they're coming back so President Duterte will have to go there, to the United States. I would think. If that's the condition he made," he said.
On Sept. 28, 1901, Filipino freedom fighters from Balangiga, Eastern Samar ambushed Company C of the 9th US Infantry Regiment who were having breakfast, killing an estimated 48 and wounding 22 out of the 78 men of the unit, with only four escaping unhurt.
From the burned-out town Catholic church, the Americans looted three bells which they took back to the US as war trophy. Two of the bells were taken to an American Air Force base in Wyoming and the third was in South Korea.