LANTO, DANAROSE T.

BSA13

A RESEARCH ABOUT BALANGIGA BELLS

1. Introduction

After more than 100 years, the US military intends to return the famed Bells of Balangiga
to the Philippines. Philippines has long sought the repatriation of the church bells, which were
taken by US troops in 1901 during a particularly bloody chapter of the Philippine-American War.
The Balangiga Bells are three church bells taken by the United States Army from the Church of
San Lorenzo de Martir in Balangiga, Eastern Samar, Philippines as war trophies after reprisals
following the Balangiga massacre in 1901 during the Philippine-American War. One church bell
is in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, their base in South
Korea, while two others are on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F. E. Warren Air
Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The bell being kept by the 9th Infantry Regiment in South
Korea had been tolled to signal a surprise attack by the Filipinos against the American troops as
the latter were eating breakfast.

The bells have deep significance for many in the United States and the Philippines. Some
members of Congress and veterans' groups had opposed their return. Some lawmakers still do. The
recovery of the bells had been sought by various individuals representing the Catholic Church in
the Philippines, the Philippine government and the residents of Balangiga since the late 1950s.
These efforts however, have been met with frustration until recently. As of November 2018, all
three church bells are in the process of being repatriated back to the Philippines from the United
States and South Korea.

1.1 History
On Aug 11, 1901, Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment, arrived in Balangiga on the
southern coast of Samar island, to close its port and prevent supplies reaching Filipino guerillas in
the interior.
A glamour unit, Company C was assigned provost duty and guarded the captured President
Emilio Aguinaldo upon their return to the Philippines on June 5, 1901, after fighting Boxer rebels
and helping capture Peking in China.They also performed as honor guard during the historic July
4, 1901 inauguration of the American civil government in the Philippines and the installation as
first civil governor of William Howard Taft, later president of the U.S.

Filipino historian, Prof. Rolando O. Borrinaga, tells the story of the massacre in an article
entitled "Vintage View: The Balangiga Incident and Its Aftermath":
 The first month of Company C’s presence in Balangiga was marked by extensive
fraternization between the Americans and the local residents. The friendly activities
included tuba (native wine) drinking among the soldiers and native males, baseball games
and arnis (stick fighting) demonstrations in the town plaza, and even a romantic link between an
American sergeant, Frank Betron, and a native woman church leader, Casiana “Geronima”
Nacionales.

Tensions rose when on September 22, at a tuba store, two drunken American soldiers tried
to molest the girl tending the store. The girl was rescued by her two brothers, who mauled the
soldiers. In retaliation, the Company Commander, Capt. Thomas W. Connell, West Point class of
1894, rounded up 143 male residents for forced labor to clean up the town in preparation for an
official visit by his superior officers. They were detained overnight without food under two conical
Sibley tents in the town plaza, each of which could only accommodate 16 persons; 78 of the
detainees remained the next morning, after 65 others were released due to age and physical
infirmity. Finally, Connell ordered the confiscation from their houses of all sharp bolos, and the
confiscation and destruction of stored rice. Feeling aggrieved, the townspeople plotted to attack
the U.S. Army garrison.

The mastermind was Valeriano Abanador, a Letran dropout and the local chief of police;
he was assisted by five locals and two guerilla officers under the command of Brig. Gen. Vicente
Lukban: Capt. Eugenio Daza and Sgt. Pedro Duran, Sr. The lone woman plotter was Casiana
“Geronima” Nacionales. Lukban played no role in the planning of the attack; he only learned
about it a week later. About 500 men in seven attack units would take part. They represented
virtually all families of Balangiga, whose outlying villages then included the present towns of
Lawaan and Giporlos, and of Quinapundan, a town served by the priest in Balangiga.
On September 27, Friday, the natives sought divine help and intervention for the success
of their plot through an afternoon procession and marathon evening novena prayers to their
protector saints inside the church. They also ensured the safety of the women and children by
having them leave the town after midnight, hours before the attack. Pvt. Adolph Gamlin observed
women and children evacuating the town and reported it, but he was ignored.

To mask the disappearance of the women from the dawn service inside the church, 34
attackers from Barrio Lawaan cross-dressed as women worshippers.
At 6:45 a.m., on Saturday, September 28, Abanador grabbed Pvt. Adolph Gamlin's rifle
from behind and hit him unconscious with its butt. Abanador turned the rifle at the men in the
sergeant’s mess tent, wounding one. He then waved a rattan cane above his head, and yelled:
“Atake, mga Balangigan-on! (Attack, men of Balangiga!). A bell in the church tower was
rung seconds later, to announce that the attack had begun.

The guards outside the convent and municipal hall were killed. The Filipinos apparently
sealed in the Sibley tents at the front of the municipal hall, having had weapons smuggled to them
in water carriers, broke free and entered the municipal hall and made their way to the second floor.
The men in the church broke into the convent through a connecting corridor and killed the officers
who were billeted there. The mess tent and the two barracks were attacked. Most of the Americans
were hacked to death before they could grab their firearms. The few who escaped the main attack
ought with kitchen utensils, steak knives, and chairs.

The convent was successfully occupied and so, initially, was the municipal hall, but the
mess tent and barracks attack suffered a fatal flaw - about one hundred men were split into three
groups, one of each target but too few attackers had been assigned to ensure success. A number of
Co. C. personnel escaped from the mess tent and the barracks and were able to retake the municipal
hall, arm themselves and fight back. Adolph Gamlin recovered consciousness, found a rifle and
caused considerable casualties among the Filipinos.

Faced with immensely superior firepower and a rapidly degrading attack, Abanador
ordered a retreat. But with insufficient numbers and fear that the rebels would re-group and attack
again, the surviving Americans, led by Sgt. Frank Betron, escaped by baroto(native canoes with
outriggers, navigated by using wooden paddles) to Basey, Samar, about 20 miles away. The
townspeople returned to bury their dead, then abandoned the town.

Capt. Edwin V. Bookmiller, West Point Class 1889 and commander of Company G of the
9th US Infantry at Basey, commandeered a civilian coastal steamer from Tacloban, the SS
Pittsburg, and with his men steamed to Balangiga. The town was deserted. The dead of Company
C lay where they fell, many bearing horrible hack wounds. Bookmiller and his men burned
the town to the ground.

Of the original 74 man contingent, 48 died and 26 survived, 22 of them severely wounded.
The dead included all of Company C's commissioned officers. The guerillas also took 100 rifles
with 25,000 rounds of ammunition; 28 Filipinos died and 22 were wounded.

In reprisal, General Jacob H. Smith ordered that Samar be turned into a "howling
wilderness" and that any Filipino male above ten years of age capable of bearing arms be shot.
From the burned-out Catholic town church, the Americans looted three bells which they took
back to the United States as war booty. The 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, however, maintains that
the single bell in their possession was presented to the regiment by villagers when the unit left
Balangiga on April 9, 1902.[7] However, that bell had been given to them by the 11th Infantry
Regiment, which had taken all three bells when they left Balangiga for Tacloban on 18 October
1901.
Smith and his primary subordinate, Major Littleton Waller of the United States Marine
Corps were both court-martialled for illegal vengeance against the civilian population of Samar.
Waller was acquitted of the charges. Smith was found guilty, admonished and retired from
service, but charges were dropped shortly after. He was later hailed as a war hero.
1.2 Significance
Balangiga bells 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.
It also has historical significance. It signified how the Filipino people strived and fought
the Americans during their time. The Americans argued that the bells were part of the spoils of
war, paid for with the blood of American soldiers. We, too, paid a terrible price for a war not of
our own making. Theirs was a war of conquest; ours was a fight for freedom. The bells of
Balangiga are a reminder of the fighting spirit and determination of our people. Their struggles
during the Philippine-American War cannot be considered of lesser significance than the battles
we fought in Bataan and Corregidor alongside Americans.

Body

The bloody conflict became popularly known in history as the “Balangiga Massacre,”
described by the US military as its “worst single defeat” in the Philippines and among the worst
defeats in its entire history. The Americans were initially driven off with heavy losses – 48 were
killed and 22 were wounded. However, they counter-attacked with vengeance over the next few
weeks. General Jacob Smith instructed that Samar be converted into a “howling wilderness.” All
persons over 10 years of age who have not surrendered and were capable of carrying arms were to
be shot. This directive caused the deaths of ten of thousands of Filipino civilians and the total
destruction of the town.

2.1 Howling wilderness

U.S. General Jacob H. Smith ordered that Samar be turned into a “Howling Wilderness.” The
bloody operation resulted in the death of more than 2,500 Filipinos. The Americans then looted
the three bells in the church, which they took back to the United States as spoils of war.

General Smith and his subordinate, Major Littleton Waller, were court-martialed for “illegal
vengeance” against the civilian population of Samar. Waller was acquitted while Smith was found
guilty, admonished, and retired from service. However, the charges against Smith were dropped
later. He was later hailed as a “war hero.”

But a soldier who participated in the massacre described his testimony: “The major said that
General Smith instructed him to kill and burn, and said that the more he killed and burned the
better pleased he would be; that it was no time to take prisoners, and that he was to make Samar a
howling wilderness. Major Waller asked General Smith to define the age limit for killing, and he
replied ‘everyone over ten.’”

2.2 War trophies

The three bells were brought to the U.S. as war trophies. Today, they’re displayed in two places.
One bell is in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at their base in Camp Red Cloud in
South Korea. The other two are displayed on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F.E.
Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The return of the bells is one of the most contentious issues and irritants in US-Philippines
relations. The Philippine government’s demands for the return of the bells fell on deaf ears. After
decades of attempts to get them back, the bells continue to wander in the “howling wilderness” in
the minds of Filipinos.

In 1994, then President Fidel V. Ramos initiated attempts to recover the bells during the time of
U.S. President Bill Clinton. The U.S. government replied that since the bells were U.S. government
property, it would take an act of Congress to return them. Further attempts were made in 2002,
2005, 2006, and 2007.

2.3 A century of denial

For more than a century after the heinous massacre in Balangiga, America stood pat on her stand
that the Balangiga belongs to her, to be displayed as trophies of war. But to the Filipinos, it was a
grim memory of how their ancestors fought mighty America with their bolos. It left a lasting
reminder of their ancestors’ willingness and readiness to die for freedom and independence.

In the past few years, memories of the Balangiga bells began to ring again… louder. Their tolls
are heard again in the psyche of the Filipinos — “We want the bells back!” The least the Americans
could have done was to return one or two of the three bells. But many Filipinos, proud as ever,
wouldn’t settle for that, it’s “all or nothing.” And “nothing” it was. The U.S. simply wouldn’t
budge.

In 2014, interest in the Balangiga bells was renewed when then President Barack Obama visited
the Philippines. More than 3,000 signed an online petitioner urging the U.S. to return the bells. But
there was no response.

On July 24, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA)
that was quite different from past SONAs. He told the U.S. to return the iconic Balangiga bells.
“Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part
of our national heritage,” he said in the presence of U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim
who showed no reaction.

2.4 Bases for the retrieval of Balangiga Bells

1. Religious Artifacts as Inappropriate Trophies of War

The Bells of Balangiga are religious artifacts and have considerable significance in the
Catholic tradition. Among many other uses, they call people to prayer and worship. They are
not meant to serve as signal to a conflict and 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. Also, the bells represent an important part of a town people’s culture, history and
heritage. The market value of the bells may not be that high, but the collective sentiments that
they have borne and symbolized for the people of Balangiga are priceless.

And even though the bells were used to signal the attack on American soldiers, the Parish
of Balangiga generally did not order or approve the use of the bells in the attack. The parish
priest, who was then the de facto supervisor of the bells on behalf of the Parish of Balangiga,
left the town the day before the attack in protest at the planned action. Moreover, granting that
the parish priest was part of the plan of the encounter, he was never the owner of the bells. The
Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese is the owner and the parish priest is just an administrator
of parish properties.

Regardless of the current state of ownership of the bells, their original owner was the parish
of Balangiga. Inscriptions on two of the three bells show that they were specifically made for
the parish. Therefore, the rightful place for the bells is the church, certainly not in a military
base.
2. Return of Other War Booties

The US had previously returned war booties of World War II, rightfully belonging to other
countries. The latest deed of the US is the return of the San Pedro bell to the Church of Saints
Peter and Paul in Bauang, La Union, Philippines in 2016. A 15th-century Buddhist bell taken
as a war booty in 1945 was also returned to Japan by the United States Naval Academy and the
Virginia Military Institute in 1991. The US Army’s Unit for Monuments, Fine Arts and
Archives, operating in occupied Germany, facilitated the return of several looted works of arts
to the countries where they were before World War II. These precedents could also be applied
for the return of the Balangiga Bells.

3 1899 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War

An international treaty negotiated at the First Peace Conferences at The Hague,
Netherlands in 1899, the Hague Convention was among the first formal statements of the laws
of war and war crimes in international law. Article 53 of the Convention specifically states that
 an army of occupation can only take some possession of the State which may be used for
military operations. These possessions include cash, funds, and property liable to requisition
belonging strictly to the state, depots of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and
generally, all movable property of the State. On April 9, 1900, the US became one of the country
signatories of the Convention.

The Balangiga Bells, which are considered religious relics, do not qualify as materials that
can be used exclusively for warfare or any military operation. As specifically stated in the
Convention, possession not qualified as military material which applies to the Balangiga Bells,
must be restored at the conclusion of peace, which in this case happened a century ago.

4. 1863 Instructions for the Government of Armies of the US in the Field (Lieber Code)
Promulgated by then US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the Lieber Code was
America’s first comprehensive rules regulating an army in wartime. Article 45 of the Code
states that all captures and booty belong primarily to the government of the captor. The US
military officers who brought the Balangiga Bells to the US claimed that the bells are war
booties. However, Article 37 of the same Code signifies that the US government acknowledges
and protects religion, private property, and the inhabitants. Article 34 of the Code states that
properties belonging to churches shall not to be considered public properties. Primarily, the
Code upholds the sanctity of religion. As such, the US government should have never seized
the bells, which are religious and private properties of the Parish of Balangiga. Since the seizure
of the bells was improper, rights of ownership were not acquired by the US. On this basis, the
Parish of Balangiga retains property rights in the bells.

4 Authority of the US President to Return the Bells

Several laws give authority to the U.S. President to return the Balangiga Bells to its rightful
owners, including the Tydings-McDuffy Act, the Philippine Property Act, the Trading with the
Enemy Act, The Treaty of General Relations between the US and the Philippines, and the
current US Unified Code of Military Justice. Under the US Code § 1383, the President of the
U.S. is authorized to transfer to the Philippines any or all of the rights and interests of the US
government to any or all real and personal property vested in its agencies.

5 Gesture of International Cooperation and Gratitude

The US should return the bells, in the spirit of more than a hundred years of friendship
between the US and the Philippines. Both countries have become allies during World War II
and in many other international wars and conflicts in South Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, even the
current war against terrorism. Many Balangiga residents have served in the US military forces
such as the Navy and Army, in Vietnam and Iraq. During World War II, Balangiga guerillas
fought the Japanese on behalf of the US. During the Pulahanes period in 1903, many of those
Balangiga residents who fought Company C fought alongside American forces against
 terrorism in Samar. This shows that Balangiga residents have been fighting terrorism in support
to the US for a century.

The return of the bells should express a final closure to a painful historical episode of war
and serve as a symbol of friendship and cooperation, and not of unfortunate misunderstanding
and conflict between the US and Philippines.

2.5 Symbolism
The bells of Balangiga represent different things to different groups. For many Filipinos,
they are a symbol of the long, hard struggle for independence, much like the Liberty Bell in U.S.
history. For the U.S. military, they are the spoils of war, compensation for the loss of life on that
terrible day. For Catholics, they are a religious symbol that needs to be returned to its proper home
in the church. For peace activists, the bells are a symbol of reconciliation, a much-needed symbol
given the intensifying militarization of the Pacific as seen in the return of the U.S. military to the
Philippines. And for the people of Balangiga, the bells are a symbol which brings together history,
religion, and community, and they understandably want them returned.

The Philippines has been waiting for over a century for the US to free its last prisoners
from the 1899-1901 Philippine-American War -- the Balangiga Bells. For Filipinos, the Bells are
not only sacred, religious relics. They symbolize the country’s aspiration and struggle for
freedom and national independence. The bells of Balangiga signify the bravery of our people
against an oppressive power. Thus, it also symbolized an act of defiance, courage, and
heroism.

2.6 Other facts

Casiana Nacionales, or known as Apoy Sana to most Balangigan-ons, was the only woman
who took part in the attack of the Balangigan-ons against the Americans in the famous Balangiga
Conflict of 1901, as confirmed in Rolanda Borrinaga’s book: The Balangiga Conflict
Revisited. According to the people of Balangiga, Apoy Sana participated in the plotting of the
attack to the foreigners. Part of the plot was her coming out of the church and waving her rosary
beads upon hearing the ringing of the bells. I’ve always remembered this scene from the annual
reenactment of the event in our town witnessed by tourists from other parts of the country and
abroad. I used to push my body through the crowd until I got hold of the wire fence used to
surround the oval where the actors performed. A strange feeling would rush from my stomach to
my throat as the story nears the climax –the battle itself. The audience would stand in awe and my
eyes would beam with amazement or perhaps pride as Apoy Sana, dressed in
black kimonoand saya and wearing a veil, comes out from the church waving her big wooden
rosary beads while the church bells are ringing. This, accordingly, signalled the attack of the
Balangigan-ons, who were armed with bolos and other blade weapons, against the American
soldiers who just woke from their sleep and are waiting for their breakfast to be served by the
natives.

3. Conclusion
The Balangiga Bells has played a significant role in the history of the Philippines. They are
part of the national heritage. Those bells are reminders of the gallantry and heroism of the
Filipino’s forebears who resisted the American colonizers and sacrificed their lives in the process.
Those should be returned for many reasons such that it symbolizes the country’s aspiration and
struggle for freedom, the bravery of our people against an oppressive power and act of defiance,
courage, and heroism.. The return of the Balangiga Bells will be a strong indicator of the sincerity
of the Americans in forging a lasting relationship with the Filipino people and truly symbolic of
what their government has referred to in the past as an ironclad alliance between two countries.
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