The Bells of Balangiga Revisited

An interview with Bob Couttie, author of "Hang The Dogs: The True and Tragic History of Balangiga Massacre"
http://www.philnews.com/2005/da.html

This editorial revisits the issue of the bells of Balangiga. At present, the United States has in its possession three bells that belonged to the parish church of Balangiga. Since mid 90's, when President Ramos sought their return from the Clinton Administration, various veteran and historical associations have lobbied for and against their return.

The Balangiga "incident" as some prefer to call it, happened over a hundred years ago on the Visayan island of Samar. In the early morning hours of September 28, 1901, as a company of American soldiers prepared for breakfast, bolo-wielding townsmen launched a surprise attack on them. By the end of that day 48 Americans were dead, 22 were wounded, and only four escaped unharmed.

American forces quickly launched a brutal counter-offensive that destroyed the town and killed scores of Filipinos. Balangiga was left in ruins. The American soldiers then took with them three bells from the parish church.

Today, Filipinos want those bells back and while some Americans favor the return of at least one bell, others refuse to consider even that.

To better understand this issue Philippine NewsLink turned to Bob Couttie, author of the book Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre, published late last year in the Philippines.

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U.S. to return the bells of Balangiga

Extant photograph of some American survivors with their bell of Balangiga. This photo was taken in Calbayog, Samar, sometime in April 1902. (Published version in the Leyte-Samar Studies.)

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By Rolando O. Borrinaga

(NOTE: This article originally appeared in the maiden issue of Bankaw News dated January 16-22, 1995 and reprinted in Eastern Visayas Quarterly, September 1995 issue, and in the 1996 commemorative program of the "Balangiga Massacre". This was written at a time when the hopes of getting back the Bells of Balangiga were high after US Pres. Bill Clinton, during a visit to Manila, agreed to return these relics. Years and several debacles later, the hopes are at an all time low. Still the struggle must go on.)

At long last, the quest is over.

US President Bill Clinton, in the spirit of "fair play," has agreed to return the church bells of Balangiga, Eastern Samar to the Philippines.

The two bells, each more than three feet in height, were carted off to the United States as war booty by returning US Cavalry troops 90 years ago. They are now mounted on a granite monument near the flagpole at the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

The bells were rung to signal a successful attack by native bolo fighters that almost wiped out a company of US Marines during the infamous "Balangiga Massacre" on September 28, 1901.

The massacre of US troops at Balangiga was the worst single defeat of the US Army during the Philippine-American War at the turn of the century. It was followed by the extermination of thousands of Samareños, mostly civilians 10 years old and above, when the American military retaliated with a "kill-and-burn" policy imposed by General Jacob Smith. This policy of hatred and revenge was aimed to reduce Samar into a "howling wilderness."

Delayed announcement

Pres. Clinton pledged to return the bells of Balangiga during his one-on-one meeting with President Fidel V. Ramos in Manila on November 13, 1994. The information was revealed more than a month later by Pres. Ramos himself, and the news was published by The Manila Times in its December 17, 1994 issue.

However, the report did not explain the one-month delay in issuing the official announcement.

Ramos said Clinton "has assigned his military staff to look into the matter."

In the same report, Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Romulo (now resigned) said he was instructed by the president "to follow up the matter (of the bells)." He added that the Department of Foreign Affairs was already working with the US Government to facilitate the return of the relics to the country.

"The bells are of historic importance because they were used by ill-equipped Filipino revolutionaries, under General Vicente Lukban, as a means of coordinating an attack against American troopers who were at the time herding civilians into hamlets in Balangiga, Eastern Samar," The Manila Times report elaborated.

US military sources cited that only 48 American soldiers, including their commander Capt. Thomas Connel, perished during the Balangiga Massacre. The other members of Company "C", 9th Infantry Regiment of the US Army, were reported to have escaped on native boats with varying degrees of injury.

However, the official figures have been contradicted by folk information that insisted only two out of the 74 men assigned in Balangiga survived the attack.

The natives suffered 28 deaths during the same attack.

The Americans reported that the attack happened on September 28, 1901. But this date had also been disputed by folk information, telling that it occurred on "Saturday, September 29, 1901, the feast day of St. Michael Archangel." The native attackers, led by Capitan Valeriano Abanador, reportedly prayed for the divine protection of St. Michael to enhance their success.

The American defeat at Balangiga was followed by swift and brutal retaliation of the US Army. With Gen. Smith’s "kill-and-burn" policy, between 500 and 1,000 natives, mostly civilian men, women, and children 10 years old and above, were killed for every American who perished during the Balangiga attack.

The church bells were extracted from the belfry by reinforcement troops a few days after the attack. They were transported to the US in 1904, long after the Philippine-American War had ended.

Return the bells

Former Senator Rene V. Saguisag, who has collected archival materials about the Balangiga event in the US, claimed that the earliest recorded effort he had seen to get back the bells of Balangiga was in 1957. The Jesuit historian, Fr. Horacio de la Costa, wrote twice to Mr. Chip Wards, Command Historian of the 13th Air Force in San Francisco, California.

A year later, the American Franciscan Fathers in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, also wrote to Mr. Wards, claiming that one of the two bells (dated 1883 and 1889, respectively) was of Franciscan origin.

Other groups and individuals have also worked, off and on, both to highlight the Balangiga event and to petition for the return of the bells to the Philippines.

In 1982, the National Historical Institute, upon the representation of Balangiga residents in Metro-Manila, authorized the installation of a historical marker in the plaza where the massacre occurred "to honor national heroes and perpetuate the glory of their deeds and to preserve historical sites." This marker was inlaid at the pedestal of the monument in honor of Capitan Valeriano Abanador.

On his part, Representative Jose Tan Ramirez of Eastern Samar filed a bill that came out in 1988 as R.A. No. 6692, designating September 28 of every year as "Balangiga Encounter Day" and making this day an official non-working holiday in the entire province.

In 1989 the Balangiga Historical Society, through the National Historical Institute and the Department of Foreign Affairs, petitioned the US Government for the return of their town’s church bells. "The return of the bells would mean a great deal to the town people of Balangiga, as they represent the rich heritage of the town, the emblem and the aspirations of their forefathers for freedom and liberty," the petition highlighted.

After sensing that their plea had fallen on deaf ears, the Balangiga Historical Society requested Senator Heherson Alvarez to intercede on their behalf. The senator obliged by communicating with then US Ambassador Richard Solomon in Manila and making an official visit to Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, USA, in 1993.

In 1994 Sen. Alvarez wrote to both US Ambassador John D. Negroponte and Pres. Clinton for the return of the bells to the Philippines.

There had been a lot of support for the return of the Balangiga bells to the country. But there was also formidable resistance. Some opposition came from officials and residents of Wyoming. And last September 1994, US Ambassador Negroponte officially admitted that the US Air Force did not favor the return of the bells. The resistance had stalled the unfocused Filipino efforts and placed them in limbo.

"A doomed cause"

The media focus on the 50th Leyte Landing Anniversary last October 20, 1994 provided an opportunity to renew the call for the return of the Balangiga bells to the Philippines.

On August 11, 1994, a letter by this writer was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Entitled "Bells of Balangiga," the letter linked the Balangiga bells episode and MacArthur’s return as bloody contradictions of the American heritage in Leyte and Samar. To resolve this contradiction, the letter appealed for the magnanimous commitment of the US Government to return the bells to the country.

His message stuck. It was repeated in several other letters and in a full feature published by the Inquirer during the week of the Leyte Landing celebration.

This writer’s call was paralleled by former Senator Saguisag, who had written about the Balangiga bells in several of his previous columns in The Manila Times. On October 12, 1944, he wrote the column item "Leyte and the Balangiga bells," wherein he cited his common concern with this writer and alluded to the US Government to commit the return of the bells, either during the Leyte Landing writes or during Pres. Clinton’s visit last November.

"Let freedom ring once more from those bells, back in Balangiga where they belong, to punctuate America’s generosity of spirit and the gallantry of our forebears, and complete the healing," Saguisag appealed.

Saguisag’s article caught the attention of Father David Turnbull, OFM, former parish priest of Naval, Biliran, and a friend of US Ambassador and Mrs. John D. Negroponte. After reading the article. Fr. Turnbull wrote to this writer, his former spiritual ward, and asked information about the Balangiga bells. He offered to make personal representation on the matter with some US Embassy staff.

After receiving the information materials from this writer, Fr. Turnbull eventually brought up the Balangiga bells issue with the US ambassador and his wife, Diana. In a letter, the priest advised this writer to keep up his hopes for the return of the bells. Meanwhile, the latter’s local critics sneered at his "doomed cause."

Anti-climax

Indeed, the quest for the bells of Balangiga appeared doomed.

The hint came from Pres. Ramos himself. Last September 1994, when he came to Leyte to oversee the preparations for the Leyte Landing commemoration, the president was asked about the bells during a press conference. His answer was: "Let us forget the past (memorialized by the bells) and look to the future."

October 20, 1994 came and went. The Leyte Landing speeches made no mention about the bells. But November 13, 1994, the date of the Clinton visit, also came and went without any official announcement about the fate of the Balangiga bells.

One week later, this writer wrote his column for another local weekly newspaper. He said he had given up his own quest for the return of the bells. He reasoned that since the two best opportunities to pressure for the return of the bells had come and gone, any future related effort looked futile.

Thus, when the news broke that Pres. Clinton had agreed to return the bells of Balangiga during his November visit, it came as an anti-climax.

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THE BELLS OF BALANGIGA: My Visit to Cheyenne, Wyoming

by Bishop Leonardo Y. Medroso

FIRST OF ALL I would like to express my sincerest thanks and appreciation to the great hospitality of Bishop Joseph Hart, the bishop of Cheyenne. He afforded me this opportunity to visit his area of jurisdiction and to see for myself the bells of Balangiga Church.

a) The Bells of Balangiga is Church's property; the rightful owner is the Diocese of Borongan, of which Balangiga is a parish. I am the Bishop of Borongan. I am here for a double purpose: 1) to see its status; 2) to appeal to the concerned to plead for the return of the Bells to the rightful owner, to the Diocese of Borongan; to the parish Church of Balangiga.

As the accepted adage has it, "res clamat dominum" that is, a piece of property that is not in the hands of the rightful owner is ever clamoring that it be returned to the original owner.

b) I am aware that there are some individuals or group of individuals who would insist on keeping the bells in F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne. It is argued that it is a war trophy, a booty. Hence, the right of the victor is invoked. I am also aware that they were used to signal the fateful attack a hundred years ago, that caused lives and so much tragedy.

However, it is my belief that a religious article should never be made as an instrument of war nor does it become a trophy of the victors. Religion transcends war; in fact, it always pleads for peace and reconciliation.

The use of a religious article, as the Bells of Balangiga was alleged to be used, to signal an attack does not, by that very act, fault the owner and deprive thereby that owner of his property.

The parish priest of Balangiga during the time of the attack, I believe, is innocent. In fact, he was not there during the actual encounter. Granting, but never conceding, that he was part of the plan of the encounter, the parish priest is never the owner of that piece of property. The Roman Catholic Bishop of the diocese is the owner; the parish priest is just an administrator of parish properties. His imprudent act in the use of such property will not deprive the Bishop from his right to the property. As Major Gen. James Franklin Bell, U.S. Army Chief of Staff 1906-1910, rightly commented: "In this connection it may be appropriate to question the propriety of taking (even as a souvenir) a bell belonging to the Catholic Church simply because a recreant native priest either used it or permitted it to be used to sound a signal of attack on American soldiers. The bell belonged to the church and not to the priest. It was not the fault of the church but that of the priest that it was misused."

c) Besides, and this is what I would like to stress, time is a great healer. Its passage gives all of us opportunities and enough space to look back into the past with a better and mature perspective. A tragedy had happened; lives had been lost; pains and sufferings had been inflicted. But they all are in the past. Let us do something about them to right the wrong. But let us be reconciled. To insist to keep on bearing these grudges within our own system is to condemn ourselves to the past. Let us be freed from that past by extracting out of ourselves those things that remind us of the past.

The bells of Balangiga, if they remain there, will always be a reminder of that fateful encounter and therefore fuels grudges and hatred. Let us do away with grudges and hatred. Return the bells to Balangiga. We will use them to call people to prayer.

THE BELLS OF BALANGIGA: An Appeal for Support

By Leonardo Y. Medroso, D.D.

THE Diocese of Borongan is bringing to the attention of the entire Philippine Church its struggle to recover the bells which one hundred years ago were taken as war booty from the church in Balangiga town. In its urgent appeal for support in this struggle, the Diocese is asking the bishops, the clergy and religious, and the lay faithful throughout the country to take a close look into the issue of the Balangiga Bells, and thereby appreciate its implications as a nation and as a Church.

The Issue

In a nutshell, the Bells of Balangiga are Church bells. They are religious artifacts with considerable significance in the Catholic tradition. Among many other uses, they call people to prayer and worship. As such they are inappropriate trophies of war. Hence, they should be returned to the place where they belong and to the purpose for which they were cast and blessed. And since these bells belong to the Roman Catholic Church of the Parish of Balangiga, they should be returned to the Catholic community of Balangiga.

The US government will not give up the bells. Its reason is simple: the bells are the property of the US government. Capt. Kathleen Cook of the Warren AFB public information office puts it this way: "The Catholic Church has no say in the matter. The bells are property of the US government. Only Congress can change the disposition of the those bells" (Marguerite Herman, Wyoming Catholic Register, December 1997)

These Church bells, seized as war booty in 1901 by the US troops in the Philippines and presently enshrined at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, have taken on a special meaning both for the people of the Philippines, who seek their return, as well as those in the United States of America, for whom they are sacred to the memory of the troops who died in Samar nearly a century ago.

Currently the matter is under congressional investigation. Recently, Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo), again attempted to stonewall the return effort by introducing language in the Defense Authorization Bill, S. 1055, that would prohibit "the return of veterans' memorial objects to foreign nations without specific authorization law." Without expressly naming either the object or the country this refers to the Bells of Balangiga.

Historical Background

The Bells of Balangiga issue goes back to the American involvement in the Philippines, which began with the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Philippines was then a Spanish possession. After the defeat of Spain, however, the United States decided to retain possession of the Philippines rather than grant the nation its independence. An insurrection followed, which lasted more than three years and cost the lives of 4,200 US troops and some 20,000 Filipino combatants. Thousands more Filipino died as a result of famine and disease caused by the war.

The most infamous incident of the war occurred on September 28, 1901, in the town of Balangiga, located some 400 miles southeast of Manila on the island of Samar. The church bells in Balangiga were reportedly used to signal a surprise attack by Filipino insurgents, many using machetes on an American garrison posted in the town.

The attack left more than 50 US soldiers dead and led to American repisals. It was so severe that they resulted in the reprimand of the American commander, Gen. Jacob Smith. But it was also effective as it shortened the insurrection to six months.

Among the actions taken by the American troops during the reprisals was the razing of several Catholic churches in the area and the confiscation of the Bells of Balangiga as trophies of war. They now hang in a "trophy park" at the Warren Air Force Base.

Current Positions

1.The Diocese of Borongan, to which the Parish of Balangiga belongs, lays rightful ownership to the Bells of Balangiga. Bishop Leonardo Y. Medroso, in his letter to Bishop Joseph Hart of Cheyenne Diocese, wrote: "I, however, resolve to write you this letter of request for the simple fact that my people in the town of Balangiga have more reasons to reclaim and recover the possession of the said bells. Records tell that the bells were property of the local church in Balangiga when they were taken by the American forces. As such they kept my people in touch with lives of their parents and grandparents, their past, their origin, their religious sentiments, their culture. The market value of the bells may not be that high, but the collective sentiments that they have borne and symbolized are priceless. It is for this that through the years my people in Balangiga have been longing to retrieve their church bells.

2.The American legions, the Amvets (American military veterans), and some state legislators would not have any part of that claim. They say that they belong to the US government as they are legitimate spoils of war. These bells enshrined the memories of their dead ones, mercilessly massacred by treacherous attacks.

3.The Philippines delegation, led by former President Fidel Ramos and Ambassador Raul Rabe and supported by some American legislators, has taken a compromise position, namely, to have the two bells recast and then give one original and one replica to each country. This is the position that is accepted and supported by the members of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC). The Diocese of Borongan, with much reluctance, agrees to this arrangements.

During its Plenary Assembly held on July 10-12, 1999, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has taken the position of the Bishop of Borongan.

But the American veterans are adamant. The Bells of Balangiga have to remain in F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In fact, this is the reason for the action of Sen. Craig Thomas in introducing language in the Defense Authorization Bill, S. 1055, that would prohibit "the return of veterans' memorial objects to foreign nations without specific authorization in law."

Plea

The struggle to retrieve the Bells of Balangiga and to restore them to their rightful owner is raging on. The Diocese of Cheyenne is supporting us; the National Bishops Conference of America is behind us; some US legislators are sympathetic to our cause; our government is not only active in its support, its is initiating activities towards the return of the bells and closely coordinating with our own activities to retrieve them.

Now, we are asking, pleading for the support of the entire people of God in the Philippines.*

Balangiga in Philippine-American-Spanish War History

More than a hundred years ago, a bloody encounter between small-town residents (mostly farmers) and American troops erupted in Balangiga, Eastern Samar that shook America’s war rooms and exposed its imperialist designs. The incident may have been dismissed by both American and Philippine authorities as a forgettable footnote of Philippine-American war history, but it continues to resonate with unresolved issues until today.

At dawn of September 28, 1901, the bells of Balangiga rang like they never did before. It turned out to be the signal for hundreds of bolo-wielding Balangigan-ons to attack the barracks of Company C, an elite group of the United States Army that, months earlier, appropriated for itself a military base in that town. Forty-eight of the 74 American soldiers present died as a result of the assault, while 28 native combatants perished. Up to that time, not a single band of the US Army has suffered as much number of casualties anywhere as it did in Balangiga.

The hierarchy of US armed forces raged at knowing about the carnage, one that the Americans would eventually call “massacre.” None of their generals must have thought that such an atrocity—a “terrorist act” in present-day language—could have happened with their own men at the receiving end. For a country edging to become the world’s new military superpower, the incident has, for a moment, shaken its military headquarters. Reprisal had to follow. Out for revenge, the American forces condemned Balangiga and practically all of Samar Island into a “howling wilderness,” razing houses and properties to the ground, and killing and maiming people—including women and children. The sweeping condemnation has been recorded as responsible for the death and disappearance of thousands of Samareños.

In victory the Americans left Balangiga with three of the church bells in tow. Two of the bells would eventually end up on display in Wyoming and one was left in a US military base in Korea. For years, individuals and groups (mostly from the Philippines) have petitioned the US for the return of the bells to Balangiga. But up to this day the bells remain in American possession, prompting some quarters to say in exasperation that the Philippine-American war has yet to end.

Balangiga in the context of Philippine-American-Spanish war

Spain was a global colonial power until at least at the closing years of the 19^th century. Its colonies included Cuba and the Philippines. Cuba revolted against Spain in 1995 and the Philippines, through its katipuneros, did the same at about the same time. While all these things unfolded, the US has expressed its sympathy for the independence dream among colonized countries, and in particular for Cuba. The US in effect put itself at odds with the colonial interests of Spain.

Something dramatic happened in February 1898 when the US battleship Maine exploded and capsized in Cuba, claiming the lives of 250 American soldiers. America charged that Spain was responsible for the attack. In the same way that the September 11 attack pushed the US to pulverize Irag a hundred years later, American declared war against Spain. Armed hostilities broke out in Cuba in April 1898 and in Manila Bay in May 1898.

General Emilio Aguinaldo, who succeeded Andres Bonifacio as chief katipunero after a contentious political bickering that led to the latter’s own execution, had earlier agreed with Spain to go on exile in exchange of Spain’s carrying out political reforms in the Philippines. On the prodding of America, Aguinaldo in June 1898 returned to the country from his exile in Hongkong, convinced that America was helping the Philippines gain independence from Spain. He declared Philippine independence on June 12 of that year, but America did not recognize it.

Leaving the Filipinos out of their schemes, America and Spain plotted a mock battle in Manila Bay in August 1898, after which formalities sealed Spain’s surrender to America. Four months later the Treaty of Paris would be signed, with Spain formally ceding the Philippines to the US, and selling it for 20 million dollars.

The Philippine-American war followed, which ended in March 1901 with Aguinaldo’r arrest and eventual surrender. Nevertheless, pockets of rebellion would erupt from time to time after that, prompting America to implement a “pacification program” throughout the country. In July 1901 the US Army sent the Company C—widely recognized for its successful campaigns in earlier battles—to Balangiga to pacify Samar Island.

The people of Balangiga and the Americans co-existed harmoniously. But the Filipinos would eventually resent the latter’s presence. They complained of abuses being committed against them, particularly against the women. The resentment would reach a point where the bells in Balangiga would reverberate on that fateful morning of September 28.

What happened in Balangiga exposed America’s desires. Apart from helping Cuba and the Philippines gain their independence from Spain, the US in reality flexed its muscle as an emerging imperial power. America was (and is) willing to kill and to risk the lives of its own soldiers, all in the name of manifest destiny.

Defending the Treaty of Paris on the floor of the US Senate on January 1900, Senator Albert Beveridge said: “God … has made us the master organizers of the world … He has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made us adepts in government that we may administer government among savage and senile peoples… This is the divine mission of America, and it holds for us all the profit …”

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