‘Return of Balangiga Bells serve as closure of bitter past’
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2018 08:39:11 +0000
THE return of the three Balangiga bells will serve as a closure of the bitter past between the US and the Philippines, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
In an interview with reporters, Lorenzana said the return of the bells will end the decades-long pleading of the Philippines to the US to return the war booty.
The first request to bring back the bells was made in 1935 by Eugenio Daza, the leader of those who attacked the Americans.
“During the time of President [Fidel] Ramos, he made a pitch also to give them back,” Lorenzana said.
The Defense chief added that they “have been working for the return but nothing happened because there was no involvement from the US government.”
He explained that the veterans in Wyoming did not want to give up the bells.
The Balangiga Bells, which were used to warn residents in Balangiga town in Samar province of an imminent attack from American troops, was confiscated by US soldiers in 1901 after they killed hundreds of men, women, and children in an incident dubbed as the “Balangiga Massacre.”
The attack was in retaliation to the attack by Filipino revolutionaries who ambushed and killed 48 members of the Company C of the 9th US Infantry Regiment.
The Balangiga bells are now in Guam and are expected to arrive in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 11.
Two of the bells were displayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming while the third was displayed at a US Army Base museum in Seoul, South Korea. ROY D.R. NARRA
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