Return bells of Balangiga, Binay again urges US

This May 2001 photo shows the two bells of Balangiga at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, that signaled an attack by Filipino insurgents on occupying American troops in 1901. The arrival of President Benigno Aquino on an official visit to the US raises the possibility that the State Department will announce plans to return of the war-trophy Bells of Balangiga to that country. AP

Stressing that the bells of Balangiga hold a “special meaning to Filipinos,” Vice President Jejomar Binay has once again urged the United States government to return them to the Philippines.

In a statement Thursday, Binay appealed to Washington to heed the voice of the Filipino people.

“The Balangiga bells are a remembrance of the men, women and children of Balangiga who died in our struggle for freedom. The return of the bells will be an act of goodwill that will further strengthen the long-standing diplomatic relationship between the Philippines and the US,” Binay said.

The three bells were taken as war trophies by American soldiers from the town of Balangiga in Samar province during the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century.

On May 3 this year, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead wrote US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta a letter, stating his opposition to the return of the bells to the Philippines.

Binay said he was “strongly opposed to any efforts to deconstruct our war memorials that honor our fallen soldiers.”

“While we respect the fact that the bells are a war memorial to US soldiers who were killed in Balangiga, I hope the US will take into consideration that the bells are a memorial, as well, of the many innocent civilians who were murdered in the wake of the indiscriminate retaliatory attack ordered by General Jacob Smith,” he said.

In 1901, Smith issued the order to “kill everyone over the age of 10” and turn Samar island into a “howling wilderness” after Filipino freedom fighters killed nearly 50 of his men and wounded another 22.

The bells were taken by the US forces as war booty. Two of them are at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and the third is displayed at the 2nd Infantry Division Museum at Camp Red Cloud, an American military base in South Korea.

Earlier, in an October 5 letter to US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr., Binay said that “through the years, there have been dialogues between independent bodies and the governments of the two nations in hopes of arriving at an equitable solution to the issue.”

“Since both parties, it would seem, have reached a consensus to return the bells to our country but for the opposition of the Wyoming governor, I am optimistic the US Congress shall soon decide the matter in our favor,” the Vice President said.