THE official confirmation that the Balangiga bells will be returned to the Philippines has opened the door to the possibility that President Duterte will visit the United States.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a briefing with reporters covering the Asean summit in Singapore that the bells’ return had been the condition set earlier for Duterte to consider visiting the US.
The President has also said on various occasions that he will not talk to US top officials until the bells are back in Manila’s possession.
The three bells were taken as war booty by US troops after the Balangiga massacre, where American soldiers torched a town in Samar and killed Filipinos in retaliation for an attack on them by Filipino insurgents
“Now the point of that was, I reminded everyone, that I said, ‘By the way, when this was raised, I said, he won’t go there until the Balangiga bells are returned.’ Well, they’re coming back so he will have to go there, to the United States. I would think. If that’s the condition he made,” Locsin said.
Asked if he has already raised this question about the President going to the United States especially with the new development, Locsin said the President smiled and said, “Yes.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued on Thursday morning in Manila that the Philippine government and the Filipino people appreciated the return of the Balangiga bells.
“We are grateful for the efforts of the executive and legislative branches of the United States government, most especially Secretary of Defense James Mattis and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, as well as concerned Filipino and American friends led by Hank Hendrickson, Dennis Wright, Henry Howard, Dan McKinnon and others from the US-Philippines Society who worked together over the years to bring the bells back home,” the statement read.
On Tuesday Malacañang said they are withholding any further comment on the matter until the last bell has been properly delivered to the country.
“In the words of the President himself: “It ain’t here until it’s here,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement.
The three Balangiga bells were taken by Americans as their war trophy from the town church of Balangiga, Eastern Samar, after reprisals following the Balangiga Massacre in 1901 during the Philippine-American war.
Prior to the return, two of the bells were at an American Air Force base in Wyoming, and the third in a US base in South Korea.
Ceremony held
A statement from the US Embassy on Thursday said Mattis announced the return of the bells on Wednesday, US time, during a ceremony at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez attended the ceremony marking the beginning of the process to return all three Balangiga bells to the Balangiga Church in Samar.
“In returning the Bells of Balangiga to our ally and our friend—the Philippines—we pick up our generation’s responsibility to deepen the respect between our peoples,” the embassy quoted Mattis as saying.
“Ambassador [Romualdez], bear these bells home, back to their Catholic Church, confident that America’s ironclad alliance with the Philippines is stronger than ever,” he added.
US Ambassador Sung Kim said, “This is a great day for the US-Philippine relationship as friends, partners and allies.”
“I can think of no clearer affirmation of the United States’s commitment to the Philippines than the return of the Balangiga Bells. To all those who have worked to make this day happen, thank you!” he added.
On August 9 Mattis notified the US Congress that the Department of Defense intended to return the bells to the Philippines.
The decision followed a yearlong consultative process with associated veterans’ organizations and government officials to ensure appropriate steps are taken to preserve the history associated with the bells.
The embassy said that although no date has been set for the bells’ return, the US is committed to returning the bells safely, in the best possible condition and without unnecessary delay.