The Bells of Balangiga haven’t rung in the Philippines in over 100 years. Now, the revered bells will be heard in the country again. The United States returned them in an emotional ceremony yesterday. On Saturday, Philippine officials will take them back to Balangiga.
Spain occupied the Philippines for more than three centuries. In 1898, the United States took possession of the country after the Spanish-American War. The Philippine-American War began shortly after.
In 1901, hundreds of Filipino villagers, armed with machetes and disguised as women, used one of Balangiga’s church bells to signal the start of a massive attack on occupying American troops. They killed 48 U.S. soldiers. The U.S. Army retaliated, reportedly killing thousands of villagers.
After the violence, the Americans took three church bells as spoils of war. The Filipinos have demanded them back for decades.
Yesterday, a giant U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft took the Bells of Balangiga back to the Philippine capital of Manila—117 years after seizing them.
“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 calls the handover an important gesture of friendship. Some U.S. veterans and officials opposed the return of the bells, calling them memorials to American war dead.
At the bell-returning ceremony, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, “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.”
If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. —Matthew 6:14
(Philippine government officials inspect three church bells seized by American troops as war trophies more than a century ago. AP Photo)
