Filtered By: Topstories
News

Balangiga Bells not trophies for atrocities, Lorenzana tells 'American people'


Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday called on the "American people" not to treat the Balangiga Bells as trophies and instead work for their return to the Philippines.

In a statement, Lorenzana said the return of the bells "will be a strong indicator of the sincerity of the Americans in forging a lasting relationship with the Filipino people."

"We call on the American people not to allow the bells to serve as trophies for atrocities that were committed by both sides on Philippine soil a very long time ago," he said.

Lorenzana issued the statement after three US lawmakers opposed US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis' plan to return the Balangiga bells — seized by US troops as trophies during the Filipino-American War — to the Philippines.

The three US lawmakers — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Senators Mike Enzi and John Barraso — said the bells are "memorials to American war dead and should not be transferred to the Philippines."

Lorenzana said that while the DND understands the resistance, it must be remembered that "both sides lost many precious lives during the Fil-Am War — the Filipinos suffering many more deaths than the Americans."

"It was a dark chapter in the shared history of our peoples, which should never be allowed to happen again," he said. "Let us not forget, however, that the time came when we set aside our differences and fought side-by-side against a common enemy in World War 2. Currently, we are again working together to fight terrorism."

Lorenzana pointed out that the return of the Balangiga Bells will be "truly symbolic of what their (US) government has referred to in the past as an ironclad alliance between our two countries."

In 1901, US soldiers killed thousands of Filipinos, including women and children in the central Philippines town of Balangiga in response to the death of 48 US soldiers at the hand of rebels during the war between the two countries.

US troops took the town's church bells. Two of the bells are at the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, while the third is part of a travelling museum.

"We thank US Defense Secretary James Mattis for his effort in seeking the return of the bells to our country," Lorenzana said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT