In addition to the official agenda of the PGMA-President Barack Obama working visit in Washington D.C., which is already well-publicized, and the confidential one-on-one discussions that may have taken place between the two Presidents which, expectedly, may not be made public, it is again timely to bring up a long-standing irritant in RP-US relations — the return to the Philippines by the US of the Balangiga bells.

The Philippine-American war

A brief historical note: After the Spanish-American war drove Spain out of the Philippines, American troops remained locked in conflict with the sovereign Philippine Army and Filipino guerrillas fighting for the preservation of their independence under President Emilio Aguinaldo. The church bells were reportedly rang by Filipino rebels to trigger an attack on the American garrison in Balangiga, a village in Samar Province, on 28 September, 1901.

The reprisals that followed shortly, led by General Jacob “Howling” Smith, left hundreds of Filipino combatants and even more civilians dead in the Visayan Islands, with whole towns burned to the ground.

In 1904, two church bells were taken by US troops from the Balangiga Church as “war booty” and brought to Fort Russell in Wyoming (now Warren Air Force Base), then headquarters of the 11th Infantry Regiment, mother unit of the soldiers killed in Balangiga.

In his 1997 classic, “Face of Empire: US-Philippine Relations, 1898-1946,” Dr. Frank Golay narrates: “Despite the consolidation of American control, the war would not go away. Engagements between American and Filipino units had averaged 44 each month during the period of formal warfare beginning in February 1899 through November that year, increased to 92 monthly over the next four months ending in March 1900, and rose to 120 during the following three months. Guerrilla warfare also proved more deadly, as the ratio of Americans killed to wounded increased — from 22% for the 1899 period, to 50% for most of the first half of 1900.

“These developments contributed to a collapse of the optimism shared by American military leaders in early 1900... By July, General Arthur MacArthur was demanding from the War Department more troops for the Philippines.”

US ‘scorched earth’ policy

The monumental work of Dr. Cesar Pobre (retired Dean of the PMA Corps of Professors), “History of the Armed Forces of the Filipino People,” reveals much of the thinking of America’s leaders during President William McKinley’s term (1897-1901), and that of his successor Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909). Dr. Pobre describes the US “scorched earth” policy after Balangiga: “General Vicente Lukban managed to have his men infiltrate the American garrison stationed in Balangiga.

That day, while the Americans were at breakfast, guerrillas disguised as laborers suddenly fell upon the unsuspecting enemy. Taking cue from the ringing of church bells, other Filipinos rushed seemingly from everywhere to join their comrades. In that action, of the 69 Americans (6 of them officers), 45 were killed; 24 others escaped, mostly wounded.

“The incident prompted President Roosevelt to order Gen. Jacob Smith to pacify Samar. Before long, Smith issued his infamous Circular No. 6, which ordered: ‘I want no prisoners. Kill and burn; and the more you burn and kill, the better it will please me.’ He tasked his men to reduce Samar into a ‘howling wilderness,’ to kill anyone 10 years old and above capable of bearing arms.

“Smith’s subordinates did as commanded, and in six months, Balangiga indeed became ‘a howling wilderness,’ if not a quiet cemetery. For ordering the carnage, he earned the nickname ‘Howling Smith.’ He was court-martialed and found guilty, but President Roosevelt eventually intervened. Smith was merely ‘admonished’ and retired. Maj. Littleton Waller, who carried out Smith’s order and for which he was called the ‘Butcher of Samar,’ was acquitted.”

Dr. Samuel Tan (former Chairman of the National Historical Commission), in his 2002 book, “The Filipino-American War 1899-1913” provides more bloody details: “After the massacre, a Capt. Bookmiller who entered the town the next day, was met by the gory sight of 48 mutilated bodies. He could only burn the town in revenge and bury the dead.”

Atrocities in Southern Luzon

Meanwhile, the successive offensives by General Miguel Malvar’s guerrilla forces in Southern Luzon came under serious concern by the US Army Command, who thought these attacks could not be undertaken without the support of local civilians. Historian Pobre records this about the Tagalog provinces: “General J.F. Bell felt the key to eradicating resistance in those areas was to prevent the access of Malvar and his followers to the people.

Taking inspiration from General Smith, he made the life of the people so unbearable that they would now be impelled to abandon their cause. General Bell instituted the ‘reconcentration system,’ where all persons were forced to move into a prescribed zone... After the set deadline, persons found outside the ‘protected zone’ were treated as enemies. No one was allowed to get in or out therefrom without permission, and once the reconcentration zone was cordoned, the Americans would search the houses to identify guerrillas and collaborators. Suspects were then apprehended, tortured and killed on the spot.

“Unlike the ‘zona,’ which the Japanese Army during WWII was to enforce to catch guerrillas and their supporters, the American ‘protected zone’ was much more extreme. While the Japanese ‘zona’ would last only for some hours or a day, the reconcentration system would run for weeks or even months on end. The forced internment of thousands of people, together with their domestic animals, made them like sardines packed in a can and, despite their being half-starved, would yet be required to do manual labor.”

Ramos-Clinton talks: A win-win proposal

Flashback to 1998: During my visit to the US on 06-10 April 1998, among other issues up for discussion, I sought President Clinton’s help and suggested what, in my view, was a win-win solution — cut both bells in half, and each country to keep two halves to be restored to their original shapes afterwards. President Clinton favored the sharing proposal, but was stymied by an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (Pentagon Budget) — “to prohibit the return of veterans’ memorial objects to foreign nations without specific authorization in law.” The rider was introduced a few weeks before by then Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming who intoned, “History brought the bells to Wyoming, and there they should stay.”

To be sure, as there were groups who objected to the bells’ return being “legitimate spoils of war that enshrine the memory of American soldiers,” there were more who strongly   their return to the Philippines — among them, the Wyoming State Senate and House of Representatives, Wyoming Veterans Commission, and National Bishops Conference of America.

To his credit, Bishop Joseph Hart of the Cheyenne Diocese who consistently supported the return of the Balangiga bells, said: “Religious objects are inappropriate trophies of war. Church bells are religious artifacts with considerable significance in Catholic tradition. These bells should be returned to the place and purpose for which they were cast and blessed.”

From the US: A centennial gift

President Clinton was not unaware of the depth of feeling of Filipinos for their spiritual icons. He facilitated the return of another prized symbol of their Christian faith: the 18-inch ivory statue of the miraculous “Madonna and Christ Child” which had been “taken” by American soldiers from the Cathedral of Borongan, Samar’s capital town, and eventually found its way to Wyoming.

The icon had been given to Bishop Hart in 1984 by a woman named Dazee Bristol whose husband fought in the Spanish-American war, and who “rescued” it from a fire that razed Borongan.

On 18 February 1998, Bishop Hart personally handed over the statue to our Ambassador to the US, Raul Rabe, who then displayed it at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. for the Filipino-American community to venerate.

The “Madonna and Christ Child” was turned over to First Lady Ming and, on 23 April 1998, we returned it to the loving care of Bishop Leonardo Medroso in Borongan, from where it was taken a hundred years before. Indeed, it was a precious centennial (of Philippine Independence) gift!

We would have been much happier had the bells of Balangiga joined the Madonna in its journey home, but Filipinos should continue these efforts and persevere for their return.

Choosing our ‘better history’

As President Barack Obama said at his inaugural: “The time has come to choose our better history.” In effect, he issued a challenge to his and other nations to build together a brighter future from the failures or hurts of the past through personal transformation, national renewal, and universal brotherhood.

Kaya ba natin ito???

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