Bells of Balangiga toll again after 117 years

THE BELLS OF BALANGIGA tolled again after 117 years. Instead of ringing for to signal for an attack, or to memorialize the slaughter of thousands of civilians, they rang to start start religious services of Simbang Gabi, nine days of prayers before Christmas.

For churchgoers, the return of the bells to their original church was a joyous occasion.

"We are the happiest people on Earth now," 81-year-old Nemesio Duran told AFP news agency. "The whole town is walking in the clouds because the bells are finally with us."

Others had mixed feelings because of the symbolism surrounding the bells.

Constancia Eleba told AFP the bells gave her "mixed emotions" given the history surrounding them. "It was painful and you cannot take it away from us," she said. "We can never forget that."

Three church bells have been returned to an Eastern Samar church in the Philippines after U.S. troops took them during the Philippine-Ameican War in 1901. For Americans, it was an insurrection. For Filipinos, it was their war for independence.

For over a century, the bells were war trophies seized in revenge for the deaths of U.S. soldiers by Filipino freedom fighters. During the attack, 48 out of the 74 solders were killed.
Under orders of their commander to turn the area into a "howling wilderness."

"I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn," he ordered his men. (Smith was later court-martialed for his conduct.) Villages and crops were burned, animals were slalughtered and 2,500 Filipinos were killed in retaliation

Two of the bells hung in a military base in Wyoming as a memorial to U.S. soldiers who were killed that day in 1901. Another hung in an Army base in South Korea.

"By returning the bells of Balangiga to our ally and our friend, the Philippines, we pick up our generation's responsibility to deepen the respect between our people," said Secretary of Defense James Mattis during ceremonies in Wyoming.

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After 117 years, the Bells of Balangiga returning to the Philippines

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Workmen packed the church bells of Balangiaga in Wyomoing last Nov. 11.

THE BELLS OF BALANGIGA will be returning to the Philippines on Dec. 15.

"Your bells of Balangiga are coming back home. They are scheduled to arrive on December 15 to a simple ceremony at Villamor Airbase in the morning," Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in Ormoc City, Leyte. last week.

For more than a century, the “Bells of Balangiga” have hung at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming after being siezed as war trophies by American soldiers of the Philippine-American War in 1901 after 48 American soldiers were killed by Filipino freedom fighters in Balangiga, Eastern Samar. Historians believe one of the bells gave the signal to begin the attack by bolo-wielding  Filipinos. It was the worst defeat of U.S. forces in the war.

In response, U.S. Brig. Gen. (Howling) Jacob H. Smith ordered that Balangiga and Samar be turned into a "howling wilderness" and allegedly said that any Filipino male above 10 years of age capable of bearing arms should be shot. The result was a 6-month long campaign resulting in the massacre of thousands of men, women and children.
The three church bells were seized as war booty. Two of the bells were brought to the U.S. and housed at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.  The third bell was transported to a U.S. military museum in South Korea. 

The bells have been a bone of contention between the U.S. and Philippines for decades. President Rodrigo Duterte revived the request. He said he would not visit the U.S. until the bells were returned.

 “Those bells are reminders of the gallantry and heroism of our forebears who resisted the American colonizers and sacrificed their lives in the process,” Duterte said last year.

“Give us back those Balangiga bells,” he added. “They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Give them back. It’s painful for us.”

Defense Secretary James Mattis promised that he would deliver the bells. He told the U.S. Congress that it was a matter of national security to return the bells.

Wyoming leaders and veterans groups fought against the bells' return to the Philippines but two major veterans groups -- The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Ameriican Legion -- threw their support for the bells' return. They lobbied for a bill that would fund the restoration and return of the bells to the Philippine church where they were originally housed.

A structure has been built outside of the church in Balangiga where the bells will be on display telling the story of the Filipinos defending their country from invaders.

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Sunday Read: Battle renewed over Bells of Balangiga

Two of the Bells of Balingiga are in display at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

DEPENDING ON which side of the Philippine-American War you study, the Bells of Balangiga are either a memorial to the American war dead; or, a tribute honoring Filipino patriots. 

That -- in a nutshell -- is the central argument over a set of three church bells taken from a church in the Philippines by American soldiers during the Philippine-American War, a little known chapter that hardly gets a paragraph in U.S. history books.

Desperately looking for an ally in Asia, the Trump administration wants to appease Philippine strongman President Rodrigo Duterte by returning the set of bells that have been in U.S. hands since the Philippine War 

Wyoming's congressional delegation is deadset against returning the church bells seized as war trophies over a century ago.

Wyoming officials reiterated their continuing opposition to returning the Bells of Balangiga amid reports that the war prizes were to be returned to the church where they were seized during the Philippine-American War. 

"These bells are memorials to American war dead and should not be transferred to the Philippines," the all-GOP delegation made up of U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, said in a joint statement August 12.

However, this time, the U.S. Defense Department appears intent on returning the church bells.

Defense Secretary James Mattis wrote members of Congress last weekend saying it was "in the national security interest of the United States" to return the bells.

Following Mattis' notification to Congress of intent to return the bells, the U.S. Embassy in Manila said in a statement last week, "No specific date has been identified for the return of the bells. We've received assurances that the bells will be returned to the Catholic Church and treated with the respect and honor they deserve."

Two of the  hurch bells are at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The third is with the U.S. Army in South Korea.

Requests for the return of the bells have been made by every Philippines administration since the term of President Fidel Ramos in the 1990s to no avail.

AYALA MUSEUM

A diorama shows the attack against the American soldiers.

U.S. Army soldiers took the bells following an attack on the island of Samar in which 48 American troops were killed in 1901. At that point, it was the worse defeat of the U.S. military in the Philippine-American War.

While Americans see the bells as war trophies and a memorial to the American soldiers who died in that forgotten war, Filipinos see the bells as a symbol of resistance to the war artrocities committed by U.S. troops during the Filipinos' war for independence.

The Philippines, a colony of Spain for 300 years, began fighting for independence in 1896. By 1898, Spain had been defeated everywhere in the Philippines except in their stronghold in Manila. The U.S. declared war against Spain in May of 1898. By the end of the year, in an agreement with the U.S., (perhaps out of pride), Spain surrendered to the U.S. rather than to the Filipino freedom fighters.

After Spain's defeat, the U.S. took possession of the Spanish colonies that included the Philippines, Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico. With the aim to create its own far-flung empire, the U.S. refused to give up the Philippines to the Filipinos. The Filipino revolutionaries, who felt betrayed by their former ally, continued their war for independence, but this time, against the United States.

On Sept. 28, 1901, Company C of the 9th Infantry was sent to Balangiga to cut off supply lines to the freedom fighters. The unit was attacked by bolo-wielding Filipinos, with the ringing bells allegedly signaling the attack.

The church in Balangiga was rebuilt after being burnt to the ground by U.S. soldiers. The adjoiing belfrey
was constructed with hopes to house the bells..

In response, U.S. Brig. Gen. (Howling) Jacob H. Smith ordered that Balangiga and Samar be turned into a "howling wilderness" and allegedly said that any Filipino male above 10 years of age capable of bearing arms should be shot. The result was a 6-month long campaign resulting in the massacre of thousands of men, women and children.F

Smith later faced a court-martial with testimony coming from some of the men under his command. He was found guilty, admonished and forced to retire.

According to the Defense Department, nearly 4,200 U.S. troops died, mostly from disease, in the 1899-1902 Philippine-American War and the guerrilla resistance to U.S. colonial rule that continued into 1913. Facing superior firepower, the Philippines' lost the lives of 20,000 soldiers and over 100,000-250,000 civilians in the 3-year long conflict.

Two of the bells are on display at F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The third is with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Regiment in South Korea.

In a statement issued Friday (Aug. 17), the Philippines' Department of National Defense said the return of the bells would serve as a symbol of the United State’s sincerity and commitment to its long-term alliance with the Philippines.

“The return of the Balangiga Bells will be a strong indicator of the sincerity of the Americans in forging a lasting relationship with the Filipino people and truly symbolic of what their government has referred to in the past as an ironclad alliance between our two countries,” the DND said in the statement.

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