Philippines on Balangiga bells: 'It ain’t here until it’s here'

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday welcomed reports that the US would return the Balangiga bells to the Philippines, but officials are reserving comment until the actual arrival of the bells seized by American troops during the Philippine-American War in 1901. 

The bells, seized from local churches by American forces as war trophies after reprisals following the massacre in Balangiga, Eastern Samar, would be formally turned over to the Philippines in a ceremony at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Nov. 15. 

The event would mark the start of the journey of two bells to the Philippines, according to historian Rolando Borrinaga of the committee on historical research of National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

The third Balangiga bell, kept at a US Army museum in South Korea, has been crated and is also ready to be shipped to the Philippines.

“We welcome any movement towards the return of the the bells of Balangiga to the Philippines,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. 

“Given that 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. In the words of the President himself: ‘It ain’t here until it’s here,’” he added. 

Panelo noted that Duterte himself expressed his desire for the return of the bells during his second State of the Nation Address last year. In the SONA, Duterte said the bells form part of Philippine patrimony and were taken at the cost of bloodshed of thousands of Filipinos.

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez told CNN Philippines yesterday that a US Air Force plane would bring the three bells to Villamor Air Base. No specific date has been set for the arrival of the bells. 

The tolling of one of the church bells in Balangiga, Eastern Samar was believed to have signaled an attack by Filipino guerrillas on American troops from the 9th US Infantry Regiment. A total of 48 US servicemen died during the assault.

US forces retaliated by launching an offensive that sought to turn Samar into a “howling wilderness.” The operation claimed the lives of more than 2,500 Filipinos. 

American troops also removed three bells from the town church and took them as war trophies.

In 1994, the Philippines under then president Fidel Ramos urged the US to return the bells but Washington did not act on it. 

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