Wyoming officials oppose returning Balangiga bells
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Elected officials from Wyoming say they oppose plans to return church bells seized as war trophies from the Philippines over a century ago.
Two of the Bells of Balangiga are at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The third is with the U.S. Army in South Korea.
Wyoming's all-Republican congressional delegation says the bells are memorials to American war dead and should not go back to the Philippines.
Delegation staffers say the Defense Department notified Congress over the weekend of the plan to return the bells.
US Army soldiers took the bells after an attack killed 48 American troops in 1901, during the U.S. occupation of the Philippines.
US Army soldiers took the bells after an attack killed 48 American troops in 1901, during the US occupation of the Philippines.
The US retaliated by ordering its troops to turn Samar into a "howling wilderness." More than 2,500 Filipinos were killed during the retaliatory attacks.
Filipinos revere the bells as symbols of national pride. President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly called for their return.
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On Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines welcomes the announcement through the US Embassy in Manila that the US Department of Defense is open to returning the bells but will wait for more details.
"We don't have even formal confirmation from our own DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) so we continue to await... advice on this regard from the DFA. That's why our statement is we’re hoping it will happen, but we await official word," he added.
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