Balangiga bells to ‘begin journey home’
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
THE BALANGIGA BELLS, taken as war booty in 1901 by members of the US Army during the Philippine-American War, are set to begin their journey home.
In a Facebook post on Monday, historian Rolando O. Borrinaga of the Committee on Historical Research of National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) said: “Update on the Balangiga from a campaigner: The Balangiga Bells team in the U.S. are going to Cheyenne, Wyoming to join up with Secretary of Defense James Mattis for a ceremony at the F.E. Warren AFB on Wednesday, the 14th (Nov. 15 in the Philippines).”
He added that “[t]his will mark the beginning of the journey of the two Wyoming bells back to the church from which they were taken (in Balangiga, Eastern Samar).”
The Balangiga bells, he said, “will now be able to begin their journey home.”
“The third Balangiga bell at a U.S. Army museum in South Korea had been crated weeks ago and is also ready for shipment home. The latest successful campaign for the return of the Bells of Balangiga was largely a veterans-to-veterans effort. So many in the U.S. veterans community have let their voices be known and lent their support — including National Resolutions of support from both the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. The bells will first be refurbished and then shipped, so the precise date for their arrival and details of the subsequent ceremonies in the Philippines are still to be ascertained,” Mr. Borrinaga said.
For his part, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said: “We welcome any movement towards the return of the Bells of Balangiga to the Philippines.”
“Given that the possession of the bells has not yet been turned over to the Philippine government, we are withholding any further comment on the matter until the last bell has been properly delivered to the country,” he added.
Mr. Panelo also stressed that in the words of President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself: “It ain’t here until it’s here.”
Sought for comment, University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman law professor Antonio G.M. La Viña said in a phone interview that the return of these bells is a “symbolic” assertion of the country’s sovereignty.
“He has always been asking for those bells back. I think it’s good that Mr. Duterte repeated that demand, and it’s good that it’s happening during his time,” he also said.
To recall, it was during his SONA last year when Mr. Duterte first demanded that the US government should return the Balangiga Bells to the Philippines. “Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Isauli naman ninyo (Return them to us). Masakit iyon sa amin (This is painful for us),” the President said.
