Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 11) — After 117 years, the Balangiga bells have arrived in Manila Tuesday morning, marking a historic moment for Philippine-U.S. relations.

The three bells arrived at the Villamor Air Base at around 10:30 a.m., coming from an American military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Two of these came from Wyoming, where the U.S. government formally turned them over in a ceremony led by Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis last November 15. The third bell was located in a U.S. military museum in South Korea.

Prior to their shipment to Okinawa, the bells were first brought to Philadelphia where they underwent refurbishing and restoration.

Joseph Felter, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, was with the bells in flight.

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, in a speech during the handover ceremony, said returning the historic bells was the "right thing to do."

"The return of the bells of Balangiga lets us reflect on the U.S.-Philippine relationship -- where we have been, where we are, where we are going. Having now served over two years as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, I am convinced that our relationship remains ironclad, consecrated by the service and sacrifice of the Americans and Filipinos who fought side by side for freedom," Kim said.

The U.S. Embassy said replica of the bells will be put up in the F.E. Warren airbase in Wyoming, as a response to American veterans who opposed the handover.

The handover was made possible after U.S. President Donald Trump signed the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, enabling the U.S. Defense Department to facilitate the bells' return.

Historians believe one of the bells signaled the attack the Filipinos launched against American troops stationed in Balangiga town in Eastern Samar on September 28, 1901. The attack, which killed 48 American soldiers, was reportedly in retaliation for the oppressive treatment Filipinos experienced in the hands of foreign soldiers.

The U.S. soldiers retaliated, destroying the town and killing thousands of Filipino soldiers and locals in what came to be known as the Balangiga Massacre, according to historical accounts. The American soldiers seized all three bells from the Balangiga Church, and a 1557 cannon as "war booty."

Former President Fidel Ramos rallied but failed to get the bells back in the 1990s, even after personally raising his concern with then U.S. President Bill Clinton who was in Manila en route to Indonesia in 1994.

Former President Fidel Ramos rallied but failed to get the bells back in the 1990s, even after personally raising his concern with then U.S. President Bill Clinton who was in Manila en route to Indonesia in 1994.

President Rodrigo Duterte renewed the call for the bells' return during his 2017 State of the Nation Address.

However, the U.S. embassy said the return was a byproduct of efforts put in by U.S. and Philippine officials.

"It was decades worth of work and protest from the veterans, and the legal issues that came with it," U.S. Embassy Spokesperson Molly Koscina said Monday. "It was not due to any particular event or statement."

President Duterte did not attend the handover, but he is expected to be at the turnover of the bells to Balangiga officials in Samar on December 15.</s>After 117 Years, Balangiga Bells Will Be Returned To The Philippines

During the U.S.-Philippine war, American troops carted off church bells as war trophies. More than a century later, the Bells of Balangiga are now being returned.</s>MANILA, Philippines – For over a century, the Bells of Balangiga have not rung in the Philippines, a silence that the president last year called “painful.” Now, the revered bells will once again be heard in the country.

Hundreds of Filipino villagers in 1901, armed with bolos and disguised as women, used one of Balangiga town’s church bells to signal the start of a massive attack that wrought one of the bloodiest single-battle losses of American occupation forces in the Philippines. The U.S. Army brutally retaliated, reportedly killing thousands of villagers, as the Philippine-American War raged.

After the violence, the Americans took three church bells as spoils of war that Filipinos would demand for decades to be handed back.

On Tuesday, a giant U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft brought the Bells of Balangiga back to the Philippine capital in a poignant ceremony that saw U.S. defense officials and the American ambassador to Manila return the war relics 117 years after they were seized. A military brass band played the Philippine national anthem, followed by “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The treaty allies then swept aside a dark episode in their long relationship with joint photographs and handshakes.

“It is my great honor to be here at this closing of a painful chapter in our history,” U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim said. “Our relationship has withstood the tests of history and flourishes today.”

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has said the handover is an important gesture of friendship and is in America’s national security interest. Some U.S. veterans and officials had opposed the return of the bells, calling them memorials to American war dead.

At Tuesday’s handover ceremony at a Philippine air force base, the bronze bells stood atop a red platform like silent symbols of a bygone era of hostilities, as American and Philippine flags flapped in the wind. Officials from both sides called for a minute of silence for the war dead.

The bells are revered by Filipinos as symbols of national pride, and their arrival on a U.S. C-130 plane and the ceremony were shown live on national TV. Two of the bells had been displayed for decades at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the third was with the U.S. Army in South Korea.

After being colonized by Spain for more than three centuries, the Philippines became a U.S. possession in 1898 in a new colonial era that began with the outbreak of the Philippine-American War.

American occupation troops seized the bells from a Catholic church following an attack by machete-wielding Filipino villagers, who killed 48 U.S. soldiers in Balangiga, on central Samar island off Leyte Gulf, according to Filipino historian Rolando Borrinaga.

The Americans retaliated, with a general, Jacob Smith, ordering troops to shoot villagers older than 10 and turn the island into a “howling wilderness,” Borrinaga said. Thousands of villagers were reported to have been killed.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has had an antagonistic attitude toward the U.S. and has revitalized ties with China and Russia, asked Washington in his state of the nation address last year to “return them to us, this is painful for us.”

“Give us back those Balangiga bells. … They are part of our national heritage,” Duterte said in the speech, attended by the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said at Tuesday’s ceremony that with the resolution of the issue, “It’s time for healing, it is time for closure, it is time to look ahead as two nations should with a shared history as allies.”

Duterte has referred to violence by Americans in Balangiga and on southern Jolo island in the early 1900s in public criticism of the U.S. government after it raised concerns about his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs in which thousands have died.

A breakthrough on the bells issue came with an amendment to a U.S. law banning the return of war relics and memorials to foreign countries. That allowed the homecoming of the Balanggiga bells, said Lorenzana, who saw the bells last year in Wyoming, where he was notified by Mattis of the U.S. decision.

Philippine officials led by Duterte are to turn over the bells on Saturday to officials and the church in Balangiga, a small coastal town where villagers, some in tears, applauded while watching troops on TV screens pry open the wooden crates containing the bells.

“The Bells of Balangiga will once again peal, it will still remind the people of Balangiga of what happened in the town square more than a century ago,” Lorenzana said. “But we would also look at that history with more understanding and acceptance.”

Associated Press journalists Bullit Marquez and Cecilia Forbes contributed to this report.</s>MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte will no longer attend the handover of the Balangiga Bells scheduled on Tuesday in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, Malacañang said on Monday.

Instead, the President will attend the program for the repatriation of the three bells (the two removed from Wyoming and one removed from South Korea) to town officials of Balangiga, Eastern Samar on Saturday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said this decision came upon recommendation of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

“The President, upon the recommendation of Secretary of National Defense Delfin N. Lorenzana, will no longer be attending the handover of the Balangiga bells scheduled tomorrow, December 11, in Villamor Air Base,” Panelo said in a press statement.

“The President will instead be in Samar on December 15, Saturday, to turn over the bells to Balangiga officials,” he added.

Lorenzana, in an interview, did not give any specific reason for the change in Duterte’s schedule.

He said Duterte was originally scheduled to attend the handover of the Balangiga bells from the US and skip its turnover to Balangiga officials.

Earlier, the defense chief described the bells’ return to its homeland as a closure to the dark episode in US-Philippine relations.

Malacañang has expressed enthusiasm for the return of the bells which were taken by US soldiers as “war booty” during the Filipino-American War over a century ago.

“The Palace enthusiastically awaits the arrival of the Balangiga Bells in the country on Tuesday, December 11,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press statement.

In his second State of the Nation Address last year, Duterte sought for the return of the three church bells taken from Balangiga town in Eastern Samar following the “Balangiga Massacre” in 1901.

In August this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) bared that the details of the possible return of the Balangiga Bells after US Defense Secretary James Mattis notified the US Congress of their intention to return them despite opposition from some American lawmakers. PNA-northboundasia.com</s>The Balangiga Bells are finally back home 117 years after American soldiers took them from a church in Eastern Samar as war booty

MANILA, Philippines – After over a century, the Balangiga Bells are finally back home in the Philippines.

The US plane carrying the historic bells arrived past 10:30 am at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 11.

Ove the decadres, the Philippine government had repeatedly asked its ally to return the historic bells, which were taken by American soldiers from a church in Balangiga town, Eastern Samar, in 1901 as war booty.

After President Rodrigo Duterte asked the US to return the 3 bells during his 2017 State of the Nation Address, the US said it would consider the request, and later agreed to give up the bells to forge a stronger friendship with the Philippines.

The bells would be formally turned over to Philippine authorities Tuesday afternoon, during a ceremony where Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana and US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim would be present.

The bells would finally be home when it arrives in Balangiga town on Friday, December 14.

They're not just bells: Before they were carted off, the bells tolled in the church of Balangiga town. Filipinos rang them in 1901 to signal the start of a surprise attack against American troops during the Philippine-American War.

Armed with machetes, Filipinos killed 48 out of 78 American soldiers in Balangiga, handing the US Army one of its biggest defeats at the time.

The Americans retaliated with a campaign to kill Filipino males over the age of 10 in the town. US military officers ordered their troops to turn Balangiga into a "howling wilderness."

Philippine historians estimated that at least 10,000 Filipinos were killed during the retaliatory attack.

What the bells mean: For the Philippines, the bells symbolize Filipinos' courage to stand up to foreign colonizers, while Americans see them as a memorial in honor of their soldiers who were killed at the time.

The US called its act of returning the bells “a demonstration of US commitment to the friendship and partnership, and the alliance” with the Philippines.

For the Philippine defense department, the bells’ long-awaited return is a cue to "heal the wounds" left by the 1901 incident. “In this ever-changing world, it is time to heal the wounds of the past, move on, and look to the future,” it said. – Rappler.com</s>MANILA: Church bells seized from the Philippines by US troops as war trophies over a century ago were returned on Tuesday, in a bid to turn the page on a difficult chapter between the historical allies.

 Giving back the three so-called Balangiga bells meets a decades-old demand from the former US colony at a time when the two nations’ ties have been rattled by President Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China.

 “Returning these bells is the right thing to do,” US Ambassador Sung Kim said at a sober handover ceremony on a Manila airfield, where a cheer went up when the bells were pulled from wooden crates.

 “It is my great honour to be here at the closing of a painful chapter in our history,” he told the crowd that included people who had lobbied for years to bring the bells home.

 The bells will be sent back later this week to the church in the central town of Balangiga where they were looted by US soldiers avenging a surprise attack that killed 48 of their comrades on September 28, 1901.

 In reprisal, the US commander Jacob Smith ordered the surrounding island of Samar be turned into a “howling wilderness”, resulting in the slaughter of thousands of Filipinos and Balangiga’s razing.

 The return of the bronze bells has been divisive with some US veterans and lawmakers, who see them as a tribute to fallen American troops, while the Philippines hails them as a symbol of its struggle for independence.

 Two of the bells had been on display in the US state of Wyoming and the other in South Korea until being restored and flown to a Manila air base on Tuesday aboard an American military cargo plane.

 “It is time for healing. It is time for closure. It is a time to look ahead as two nations should with shared history and as allies,” Philippine Secretary of Defence Delfin Lorenzana said. “After 117 years the sound of the bells will once again ring,” he added.

 Manila’s push for the bells’ repatriation began in the 1990s and has had backing from Philippine presidents as well as from the Catholic Church and historians, but also supporters in the US.

 Duterte, 73, bluntly called on Washington in a 2017 speech — where Kim was in the audience — “Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are not yours.” Within months of winning the presidency in mid-2016 he signalled his intention to split with the Philippines’ former colonial master and end a standoff with Beijing over the disputed South China Sea.

 The president did not attend Tuesday’s handover, but is due to speak at a ceremony on Saturday in Balangiga when the bells will be given back to the church. — AFP</s>After 117 Years, Balangiga Bells Will Be Returned To The Philippines

During the U.S.-Philippine war, American troops carted off church bells as war trophies. More than a century later, the Bells of Balangiga are now being returned.

It has been more than a century since American soldiers seized three church bells from a town in the Philippines. That was back during the Philippine-American War in 1901. Today, those bells are being returned. NPR's Julie McCarthy has been following the odyssey of the bells and watched as they returned. And she joins us now to tell us this story. Hey, Julie.

MARTIN: Can you just start off by telling us why these bells were taken in the first place?

MCCARTHY: Well, it's 1901. Picture this - the United States is the colonial power in the Philippines, but the Filipinos fight for independence. And before long, you've got a full-blown U.S.-Philippine War on your hands, where 200,000 people are dead. Now, in this small place called Balangiga, the U.S. occupiers start jailing the men, abusing the women, destroying the food supply. And what do the locals do? They stage a revolt. And what do they do to use a signal to launch it all? The bells of St. Lawrence the Martyr Church. The local fighters end up killing two-thirds of the American unit, arguably the worst loss in the U.S.-Philippine War. The U.S. retaliates. They're told to turn the place into a howling wilderness. They do, and they carry off the bells as they go as booty.

MARTIN: Wow. So what do these bells represent for the Philippines?

MCCARTHY: Well, I guess you can imagine after a tale like that, the bells of Balangiga come to be seen as a symbol of resistance - the struggle for independence. They signaled a revolt against the imperial Americans, who ended up being slaughtered. And certainly for President Duterte - Rodrigo Duterte - these are, no question, a symbol of resistance. He has sort of staked out a claim, resisting the American administration where he can. And he has made this a point of owning these bells. He said last year in his State of the Union that, I want these bells back. We should demand them to come back. And a historian said to me, he's the winner out of all of this. Now, it's hoped that this will also smooth relations by bringing the two sides closer, but for how long really is the question.

MARTIN: Right. But I imagine this was an incredible scene. I mean, what was it like when the bells came home?

MCCARTHY: Oh, it was really wonderful. It was full of emotion and joy and pride. And it was full of history. The bells were flown in a cargo plane - the Spirit of Macarthur, the general who commanded the troops who liberated the Philippines during World War II. The U.S. had taken the bells when they were the colonial power and when the Philippines was battling for them for independence. So these bells sort of track the whole relationship, really, in some ways - or the start of that relationship.

And in anticipation of their arrival, things got even more charged when these burly servicemen couldn't break into the crates. And when they finally broke into them and then hoisted them into the public view, there was a big round of applause. They are in great condition, by the way. And yeah, and the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, said that lot of people had had a hand in bringing these bells, from the highest levels of government to scholars to retired U.S. personnel. And he talked about how it reflected the U.S.-Philippine relationship. Here he is.

SUNG KIM: Our shared history is enduring and deeply personal. It is my great honor to be here at this closing of a painful chapter in our history.

MARTIN: A painful chapter, but Julie, just real quick - why'd take so long?

MCCARTHY: Well, as one Navy captain who was very involved in this said to me, it takes a long time to change the sentiments and attitudes. And people had fierce feelings about this. Everybody was bound up in a sense of valor on their own side, as they described it.

MARTIN: NPR's Julie McCarthy with a remarkable story. Thank you so much for sharing that, Julie. We appreciate it.</s>TACLOBAN CITY — For the people of Balangiga, Eastern Samar, watching the live coverage of bells’ arrival at the Villamor Air Base on Tuesday is like unboxing an early Christmas gift.

The nearly 200 local government workers led by Mayor Randy Garza stopped their work Tuesday morning to watch on television the blow-by-blow account of the bells’ arrival, said Balangiga town tourism, culture and arts officer Fe Campanero.

“It was very emotional. We’re like little kids who were excited to see what’s inside the wooden box unloaded from the C-130 plane. Nobody who is alive in Balangiga saw the actual bells after the American soldiers took them as war booties. We only saw it in photographs,” Campanero said.

The streets of Balangiga town were quiet Tuesday morning as all residents watched the historic arrival of the three bells taken by American soldiers as war trophies.

A group of Balangiga natives based in Manila also gathered at the Villamor Air Base to personally witness the handover ceremony, Campanero said.

“The bells’ return symbolizes genuine friendship between the US and Philippines. If the bells signaled the attack in 1901, in this modern time it continues to ring in our hearts encouraging us to move forward as a community,” she added.

Campanero’s great-great-grandmother Casiana Nacionales, who died at the age of 125 in 1953, was one of those who plotted the attack against American soldiers. “She went out of the church and waved rosary beads to signal the ringing of bells for the attack.”

The Balangiga Encounter happened on Sept. 28, 1901, when residents, led by Valeriano Abanador, initiated an attack against US soldiers.

The villagers killed 54 American soldiers using bolos. It was the biggest defeat of the foreign troop during the Philippine-American war.

Nacionales’ brother, Eugenio, who was jailed in 1901 was one of the commanders of the local warriors. Eugenio was reportedly among the 2,500 Filipinos killed by the US retaliatory attack.

The Americans took the Balangiga bells after they turned the town into a “howling wilderness”.

Two of the three bells used to be enshrined at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming while the third bell was at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea.

The people of Balangiga expect the bells’ arrival in their town on Dec. 15, with President Rodrigo Duterte gracing the ceremony.

“We are ready since everything has been planned for weeks but we expect last minute changes since the President is coming,” Campanero said.

Officials from the Presidential Management Staff, Presidential Security Group, Roman Catholic Church parish, and local government unit will meet on Wednesday to discuss more details. Sarwell Meniano/PNA)</s>BY the time this column comes out, the Balangiga Bells would have already completed its journey from the time it became a symbol of Filipino bravery and resistance against foreign occupation, to be­ing taken as war booty by Ameri­can soldiers in 1901, to finally re­turning to Philippine soil.

I welcome the decision of the US government to finally return the Balangiga bells to its rightful place in Philippine and world history. It is a decision 117 years late but very significant nevertheless.

The Philippine government has announced that after the military ceremony held last November 15 at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, where two of the church bells are located, the bell will finally return to its home on December 11.

As early as 2007, when I was still in the Senate, I filed Senate Resolution No. 177, “Expressing the Sense of the Senate for the Return to the Philippines of the Balangiga Bells which were taken by the US Troops from the Town of Balangiga, Province of Samar in 1991.”

I believed then, and more so now, that the church bells were a part not only of the proud history of the country but also of the lives of the Filipinos because despite their poverty, the people and the church raised enough money to have the bells cast.

The bells symbolized the bravery of the Filipinos amidst foreign aggression as it served to signal the people of Balangiga to fight for their freedom, thus the surprise attack against American soldiers by the Waray revolutionaries.

Then during his second State of the Nation Address, President Duterte demanded from the United States the return of the bells of Balangiga which their troops appropriated as spoils of war.

The return of the bells signify an important period in the long, complicated history of Philippine-American relations. In a way, the bells encapsulate this relationship. It was forged in war strengthened by peace and complicated by shifting global dynamics.

It is also significant that the bells are being returned at a time when the Philippines under the Duterte administration has undertaken a major shift in its foreign policy. It has established cordial relations with non-traditional allies like China and Russia while maintaining its ties with the US.

One can look at it that way – at a time when we are asserting our sovereignty in the global stage by reassessing our relations with our former colonial master, one of the symbols of our people’s struggle for independence and sovereignty is being returned to its rightful place.

I hope that the return of the bells would reignite our people’s appreciation of the sacrifice made by our heroes in order to secure our freedom. I hope that the return of the bells would remind our people of the important role of history in determining our present and future.

Balangiga is a clarion call for us to renew our commitment to ensuring a strong, independent Filipino nation with its feet firmly on its historical roots and its eyes set on a bright future.

Finally, the rightful owners of the bells – the people of Balangiga, Samar; the Diocese of Borongan – of which Balangiga is a parish; and the Filipino nation – will receive a sense of historical justice.</s>American and Filipino officials on Tuesday hailed a “bright future” and the end to a dark episode in their nations’ longtime alliance as the United States brought back to Philippine soil three bells looted from a local church in 1901.

After a U.S. Air Force plane carrying the Bells of Balangiga landed in Manila, the American ambassador to the Philippines signed them over to Filipino Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a ceremony filled with symbolism.

“The return of the Bells of Balangiga lets us reflect on the U.S.-Philippine relationship – where we have been, where we are, where we are going,” U.S. envoy Sung Kim said during a handover witnessed by kin of Filipinos who were killed by American forces in the sacking of Balangiga town, in the central Philippines, during the Philippine-American War 117 years ago.

American troops at the time claimed the church bells as war booty.

The bells were symbolically flown in on a U.S. military cargo plane named after late American Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who once famously declared that he would return to liberate the Philippines – a U.S. colony at the time – from Japanese occupation during World War II.

Kim said the ties binding the two allies were “ironclad” and “consecrated by the service and sacrifice of the Americans and Filipinos who fought side-by-side for freedom.”

“On behalf of the United States, it is my great honor to be here at this closing of a painful chapter in our history,” he said. “The bells’ return reflects the strong bonds and mutual respect between our nations and our people. It demonstrates our determination to honor the past and the sacrifices made together by Filipinos and Americans. And it heralds our bright future as friends, partners, and allies.”

While Kim noted that past Philippine presidents had worked to have the bells returned, President Rodrigo Duterte took the Americans to task over them.

The president’s rhetoric and threats to sideline Washington while the Philippines sought closer ties with U.S. rivals China and Russia were largely seen as having sped up legal work needed to repatriate the church bells.

“The history of these bells spans the entire relationship between the United States and the Philippines. In the process, they have touched many lives. And their return underscores the enduring friendship between our countries, our shared values and shared sacrifices,” Kim said.

The bells soon will be reinstalled at the Church of San Lorenzo de Martir in Balangiga, Samar province, a fitting Christmas gift to the mostly Catholic town that was pining for the return of the historical artifacts.

With the bells finally back on Philippine soil, both countries can now move on, Lorenzana said.

“They are going back to where they belong. It is time for healing. It is time for closure. It is time to look ahead as two nations should which shared history as allies,” the Philippine defense chief said.

“There’s no need to argue who is wrong and who is right. But it is safe to say these bells come to symbolize a painful episode in the history both the Philippines and U.S.,” he said.

Duterte will be present during the handover of the Balangiga bells on Saturday in Eastern Samar.

In the town of Balangiga, residents were excited for the historic homecoming of the three bells, and local officials have tightened the security in time for the arrival ceremony. For the first time in more than a century, the bells will peal to mark this year’s nine dawn Masses before Christmas.

“We are praying we will have a good weather on the day of arrival,” said Fe Campanero, a town tourism officer, adding that the bells will be open for a public viewing for locals and tourists after the turnover.

The bells of Balangiga were considered war trophies by the U.S. Army after reprisals that followed the infamous Balangiga Massacre on Sept. 28, 1901. The massacre was ordered to avenge the deaths of 45 American soldiers who were attacked by Filipino guerrillas. The bells were taken by American soldiers because they were used to signal a surprise attack by Filipino revolutionaries.

After being removed from the Philippines, one of the bells wound up with the U.S. 9th Infantry regiment at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea, while the two others ended up were at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo.

President Duterte used the story of the Balangiga Massacre to cast aspersions on the U.S. government after it questioned his administration’s war on drugs that has left thousands dead since mid-2016. He then demanded the return of the bells, and accused Washington of being hypocritical for calling him out on alleged rights abuses when the American military had committed past atrocities.
The Balangiga bells, stolen during the massacre in Balangiga in 1901 during the Philippine–American War, were returned to the Philippines after 117 years under the possession of the United States.