Balangiga Bells confiscated by U.S. soldiers to be returned to the Philippines

It ain’t here until it’s here.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo today welcomed news that the historical Balangiga Bells, which was taken by American soldiers from Eastern Samar in 1901 and brought to Wyoming, will be returned to the Philippines soon.

However, Panelo said he is withholding any further comments until the bells have arrived in the country.

Two of the bells were brought to Wyoming by the American forces, while another one is at Camp Red Cloud, the United States base in South Korea. The bells were taken by U.S. soldiers from the town of Balangiga after Filipino troops killed 48 American soldiers.

Aside from taking the bells, the American soldiers massacred thousands of Balangiga’s townspeople upon the orders of General Jacob Smith who ordered his troops to kill any Filipino over the age of 10 years old. 

According to a report from GMA News, the country’s ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said that he will be attending a military ceremony in Wyoming on Nov. 14 (Nov. 15 in Manila) which will mark the start of the bells’ journey back to the Philippines. The same ceremony will be attended by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Mattis has already notified the U.S. Congress that the Department of Defense will return the bells to the Philippines.

Romualdez also said that a statement will be released on the same day as the military ceremony and will announce the bells’ date of arrival in the Philippines.

Dr. Rolando Borrinaga of the Committee on Historical Research of National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) told ABS-CBN News that the bell in South Korea is also ready to be returned.

He said the return of the bells were made possible by the efforts of war veterans.

He said: “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.”

While others are delighted, Panelo wants to wait for the bells to arrive in the Philippines first.

“Given that the possession of the bells have 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 said in a statement.

He added: “In the words of the President himself: ‘It ain’t here until it’s here.'”

Filipinos have campaigned for the bells to be returned to the country for years, but perhaps the most high-profile person to ask for their return was Duterte, who is generally perceived to hold anti-American views.

In his State of the Nation Address last year, Duterte said: “Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Return them to us. Those are painful for us.”

Before that, an online petition in 2014 asked then-U.S. President Barack Obama to return the bells to the Philippines but the request fell on deaf ears.