The Bells of Balingiga - The Bells of Bloodshed

     It was on the news both online and tv news programs that the historical bells of Balingiga is now being returned to the Philippines after all of these years requesting for them to be returned.  But what are these bells? What are the stories behind this historical relics?  Why are they in Wyoming and why are the people Wyoming specially  the governor consistently refused to give them back and what's  in it for the people of Balingiga of the eastern visayas?   Many people in both United States and the Philippines shared common story of  a bloody and gruesome history behind religious relics.  These bells were taken away by the American infantry as a war trophy or booty.

Photo of  Balingiga bells in Wyoming 

The two faces of massacres in Balingiga.

Photo of the Balingiga church: Date unknown 

     Balingiga is a small town in the eastern Samar of the visayan island.   After  the Spanish-American war,  it was followed by the short period of the Filipino-American war.  The 9th infantry of the US army occupied the town Balingiga in 1901.  It was here when the two massacres  on both sides between Filipinos and Americans took place and both were very gruesome.

The massacre of the American Soldiers.

A portrait of villagers running out of the Balingiga
church some were dressed like women with
their jungle bolos after the bells were sounded
signaling the attack. 

A portrait of the gruesome butchering of the American soldiers

Anothet portrait of the massacre of the American soldiers

     In August 11 of 1901 the 9th infantry of the US army arrived in the small town of Balingiga.  At first there was a harmonious relationships between the american soldiers and the villiager of Balingiga and it was so peaceful during that time but in the second week of September everything went different  when the Americans discovered realized that the Filipino guerrillas ( Filipino soldiers who were fighting against the Americans)  had arrived in the town.  With the strong suspicion of surprise attack from the infamous guerrillas, the American infantry carried out drastic measures of strictness among the villagers.  Men were gathered, bolos were confiscated and villagers were deprived of food and water.   There was also a report of water torture carried out among suspected guerillas. Such strictness were considered inhumane.   Filipino villagers sought to drive the Americans out of Balinga carried a plan to get back to the Americans.
       In the eve of a festivity,  Filipino gathered pretended to be partaking of the preparation of the festivity.  They brought tuba ( a liquor made from coco water) and were given to the Americans.  In the early morning of September 28 of 1901, the bells of Balingiga church were sounded and roared the air that morning signalling the onset the attack.   Men who were dressed like women carried out their sharp jungle bolos started butchering the drunk American soldiers cutting them into pieces one by one.   Many were massacred but few managed to fight back.  Since the assailants didn't have guns, the 28 remaining soldiers were able to get their riffles and fired and the murderers were driven away leaving 36 deaths including Major Richard S.  Griswold and Captain Thomas Cornwel.


The massacre of Filipino villagers and the burning of the town. 

General Jacob H.  Smith

     After the atrocious and horrific massacre, General Jacob H.  Smith went furious that he ordered his men to gather all men 10 years old and above to be shot down.  Many were taken and placed in regimens and were shot to death.  He also ordered that houses should be burned down.  " The interior of Samar must be made of a howling wilderness!" as he commanded Major Littleton Waller.   Indeed many men were shot to death and a total of 255 houses were burned down and the town of Balingiga turned into a land of fire.   The following day the air was filled with mourn and the small town were filled with bodies.  The three bells of the Balingiga church were taken as a war trophy.

Photo of the 28 American soldiers who survived the horrific massacre
with a young Filipino boy and one of the Balingiga bells

The seized Balingiga bells that served as a war booty

Photo of Balingiga massacre
General Jacob H. Smith ordered
to kill every male over 10 years old
- Picture from NewYork journal on
May 5,1902

Photo of General Jacob Smith and his staff inspects the ruins of Balangiga in October of 1901, a few weeks after the US punitive mission by Captain Brook Miller and his troops

The demand for the return of the Balingiga bells. 

     After the bells were taken away by the American soldiers as war booty, they were pass on from one place to another until they were made commemorative relics which are now in Wyoming.  The Philippine government after a century demanded from the American  government to return the bells to their rightful place.  The former president Fidel Ramos was the first president of the Philippines to make such request and followed by those who succeeded him but such request turned out to be denied and futile.   It can also be recalled that current President Rodrigo Duterte in his 2017 state of the nation address also demanded from the US to return the Balingiga bells and for the first time,  it was heard.
     Suprizingly there were also well known American figures who supported the demands for the return of the historical relics.  Dana Rohrabacher a US congressman stated that he was horrified when he found that there was a national treasure of the Philippines kept in the United States soil.   " The bells of Balangiga touch the souls of Filipinos and should not be taken lighlty and the  fact they have not been taken back, it doesn't speak of us ( Americans). "  Dana Rohrabacher stated.   Jack Silverman an American documentarist who used to be in Balingiga also supported the demands of the return of the bells.   According to him,  the villagers of Balingiga have good sense of history.  The bells represent their culture, religious beliefs, history and the most important of all is the struggle for freedom and independence.  Logan Clark an international  investigator who shares the sentiment of returning the bell.  He is known  retrieving possessions and giving them back to their righful owners and also individuals who were returned to their families  who were victim of  human trafficking.  He stayed in the Philippines for so many years and made a research of the Balingiga bells.   He consulted Dana Rohrabacher about this and made it as another of special mission.  He raised fund for this and made a special team to help get the bells back to the Philippines he also made moves to creat full awareness of the relics wity the special help of media personnels.  Xander Berkelley  an American activist also have the same compassion for the return of a historical treasure to the Philippines.  He stated that when a religious  artifacts were stolen and if peace has been established and if such religious relics in laguish in obscurity in a foreign land,  they needed to be returned

 The granted demand.

Photos of Secretary James Mattis and Philippine Ambassador
Jose Manuel Romualdes at the ceremony of Wyoming in
November 15, 2018 marking the process to return the Balangiga
bells to the Philippines

Photo of Balingiga bells after being removed and to be
 returned to the Philippines
- Photo courtesy of Dave Miller

      After so many request demanding to return the historical bells to it's rightful place and supports from concened figures,   they were finally heard.  The US government and the governor of Wyoming has finally agreed to return the Balingiga bells to the Philippines.   In November 15, 2018 Secretary James Mattis and Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez held a ceremony in Wyoming marking the process to return the Balingiga bells to the Philippines.  The bells will be mounted  again in towers of Balingiga church and the villagers of Balingiga are excited to see the bells once more that represents their religious culture.

      Well,  these bells may have been used to signal the attack of the early villagers that lead to the horrendous incidents to both Americans and Filipinos but with the return of the relics to Balingiga, these will help to forget the nightmare that occured 117 years ago and establish better relationships.  These are some of the historical treasures and tokens of friendships that will be shared by both Americans and Filipinos though they were once the bells of bloodshed.

The Balingiga church nowadays 

Sources:

www.philstar.com
www.businessmirror.com.ph
www.UNTVweb.com
www.abs-cbnnewsonline.com
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