Balangiga bells now in Guian, Eastern Samar

The three Balangiga bells arrived in Guian in Eastern Samar on Friday morning, its last stop before they are brought to Balangiga town, GMA News' Sandra Aguinaldo reported on News To Go.

JUST IN: Balangiga Bells, dumating na sa Guiuan, Eastern Samar mula sa Villamor Air Base. | via @sandraguinaldo pic.twitter.com/4r9VX6XNFt

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) December 14, 2018

The plane carrying the three bells arrived in Guian at 10:28 a.m.

Guian is an hour and 30 minutes away from Balangiga by land.

The three bells, which had been in the United States for 117 years, were returned to the Philippines on Tuesday. They will be brought to Balangiga on Friday and will be opened to the public on Saturday.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to grace Saturday's turnover ceremony at Balangiga.

Duterte himself demanded for the return of the bells, explaining in his 2017 State of the Nation Address that they form part of the country's patrimony and they were taken from a church in Balangiga at the expense of the lives of thousands of Filipinos.

The three bells were taken by American soldiers in September 1901 from an Eastern Samar church after their retaliatory attack on Filipino guerrillas who earlier killed 48 American soldiers in storming the 9th US Infantry Regiment during the Philippine-American War. —KBK, GMA News