US returning pillaged Philippine church bells, 117 years after they were stolen
- The ‘Balangiga Bells’ were spoils of war seized by US soldiers in 1901 following one of the bloodiest clashes of the Philippine-American war
- President Rodrigo Duterte has lobbied for the bells return, saying he would not even visit the US until they were given back
The bells tolled on September 28, 1901, to signal an early-morning attack on American troops, just as they were eating breakfast. The attack almost wiped out the company of American soldiers, killing 48 of them in a rare victory in a war that the Philippines would end up losing.
The US commander’s response was swift. He ordered the killing of all Filipino males above the age of 10 who were involved in fighting US forces. The Americans razed the town of Balangiga, which had been abandoned, and took home the three church bells as war booty.
More than a century after one of the most gruesome clashes of the Philippine-American war, the “Balangiga Bells” are officially being returned to the Philippines.
Speaking at an Air Force base close to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where two of the three bells are located, Defence Secretary James Mattis said the return of the bells will “smooth the bonds that were tested but never broken by war.”
“Bear these bells home back to their Catholic Church, confident that America’s ironclad alliance with the Philippines is stronger than ever,” Mattis said to Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the United States, who was present at the ceremony. The last of the three bells, located at a US Army museum in South Korea, has already been prepared for its return.