81. THE RETURN OF LAS CAMPANAS DE BALANGIGA

THE RETURN OF LAS CAMPANAS DE BALANGIGA

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

11 December 2018

This morning, Bombo Radio Cauayan gave me a ring and made a phone interview regarding the arrival of the Balangiga Bells today in Villamor Airbase after being away from its home for 117 years serving as war trophies by the Unites States (U.S.) soldiers after their retaliation as a result of the infamous Balangiga Massacre on September 28, 1901. Before the capture, the San Lorenzo de Martir Church housed the three Spanish-Era Roman Catholic Bells with the biggest forged in 1863, the second in 1889 and the smallest in 1895. The first two bells’ second home was at the 11^th Infantry Regiment at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A. while the smallest, believed to be the one used to signal the attack, was housed in the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, the U.S. base in South Korea in Asia.

The effort to bring them back the campanas was a work in progress that lasted for six decades. The earliest record of Filipino interest in the Balangiga bells was in November 1957 when Rev. Fr. Horacio de la Costa (1916-1977), the first Filipino Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines and a recognized authority in Philippine and Asian culture and history made the initiative of writing a letter when he was in the Department of History at the Ateneo de Manila University to the 13^th Air Force at Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga stating that the bells belonged to the Franciscan missionaries and that they should be returned back to the Philippines.

The Province of Isabela’s only senator so far, Heherson T. Alvarez from Santiago City, filed a Resolution in the 8^th Congress of the Philippines (1987-1992) on the return of the Roman Catholic bells as a result of his privilege speech. President Fidel V. Ramos, during his term (1992-1998), initiated to recover one or more of the bells from William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton's administration (1993-2001) when the latter opened the idea of returning the war booty. However, some U.S. legislators during that time, has been persistent that the bells are U.S. government property and further stressed that it would take an Act of Congress to return them and that the Catholic Church has no say in the matter. For their part, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) held the position that the bells are inappropriate as trophies of war.

In 2002, the Philippine Senate approved Resolution No. 393, authored by Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr., urging the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration (2001-2010) to undertake formal negotiations with the U.S. for the return of the bells. In 2005, the bishop of Borongan, Samar, Most Rev.Leonardo Y. Medroso and Balangiga parish priest Rev. Fr. Saturnino Obzunar wrote an open letter addressed to President (2001-2009) George W. Bush, the U.S. Congress and the Helsinki Commission, requesting them to facilitate the return of the bells. That same year, the Wyoming Veterans’ Commission favored the return of the Filipino-American War relics; however, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal stated that he disagreed with the Commission and opposed returning the bells.

On January 13, 2005, U.S. Congressman Robert Earl Filner had introduced House Resolution No. 313, urging the President to authorize the transfer of ownership of one of the bells to Filipinos. The resolution died on January 3, 2007 with the sine die adjournment of the 109^th U.S. Congress. On September 26, 2006, U.S. Congressman Robert Earl Filner, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Congressman Edward Case co-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution No. 481 urging the President of the United States to authorize the return of the church bells. The resolution also died on January 3, 2009 with the sine die adjournment of the 110^th U.S. Congress.

In 2007, Napoleón Abueva, National Artist for sculpture, wrote American Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Anne Kenney asking for her help in the bells' recovery. On October 25 of the same year, during the 14^th Congress of the Philippines, Senator Manuel Villar filed Senate Resolution No. 177, a resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate for the return to the Philippines of the Balangiga Bells". In 2013, after receiving relief from the U.S. military subsequent to Typhoon Haiyan hitting the town, the town people of Balangiga asked the United States to return their campanas.

On July 25, 2017, President Rodrigo R. Duterte demanded the return of the bells citing ownership of the Philippines in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA). Also this year, in a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the President personally raised the matter to U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis who made a personal commitment to secure the bells' return. Mattis then sought legislation to enable the legal repatriation of the bells which resulted in the passage of U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for 2018. In February of this year, two U.S. lawmakers, Randy Hultgren and Jim McGovern, objected to the bells being returned to the Philippines due to the current human rights record established by Duterte’s Drug War.

According to Dr. Rolando Borrinaga, secretary of the National Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the successful campaign to return the bells came about due to the support of veterans organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. Former U.S. Navy officers Dennis Wright and Daniel W. McKinnon also "campaigned to have the bells repatriated". The two American ex-servicemen had spearheaded the recovery from the United States Military Academy (West Point, New York) in 2016 of another church bell taken in 1901 from the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Bauang, La Union.

In August of this year, the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines issued a statement that the U.S. Department of Defense had notified the U.S. Congress that it planned to return the bells to the Philippines at an unspecified date. Dr. Borrinaga stated that the two bells at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base will be turned over to Philippine representatives on November 15, 2018 with the third bell in South Korea also ready for repatriation. The two bells in Wyoming were then shipped to Philadelphia for restoration work before being sent to Japan.

On December 10, all three church bells were in Kadena Air Base in Japan awaiting repatriation to the Philippines. The morning of the next day, today, the US Embassy in Manila stated that the bells were on board a U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules on the way to Philippine capital. At 10:30 awhile ago, the military plane carrying the historic bells arrived at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea led Philippine officials at the arrival ceremony at the airbase. With him were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez and AFP Chief Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. On the part of the United States, Ambassador Sung Kim, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense Joseph Felter and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Chief Admiral Philip Davidson were present.

“The return of the bells is not only an act of goodwill from our treaty partner, but more so, a symbol of respect. It is a laudable historic moment, and a milestone in Philippine-US relations that will mark a promising future between our countries,” the DND said in a statement. Lorenzana earlier described the gesture as a “closure” to a war that marred the otherwise long history of alliance between the two countries. U.S. Embassy spokesperson Molly Koscina said the return of the bells shows how important it is for Washington to maintain good relations with Manila. She earlier stated that the return of the Balangiga bells to the Philippines was a product of decades of work and not due to any particular event or statement.

In our province, Isabela, we have three dozen Spanish-Era bells and each has its own story to tell. The bells serve as a silent existing witness of our rich cultural heritage during the latter part of the Spanish Period Philippines. History is very important as we need to study our past so we come prepared for the future. Philosopher George Santayana was quoted as saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This line can best describe the significance of the homecoming of Las Campanas de Balangiga.