CLARK FREEPORT – The American Legion, a worldwide organization of US war veterans, is set to pass on Aug. 24 a national convention resolution asking US Pres. Donald Trump and the US Congress to return the controversial Balangiga Bells to the Philippines.
Guy Hilbero, executive officer of the 26th US Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts Memoral Regiment in this former US air force base, told Punto “the Legion departments of the Pacific, California and Wisconsin have all submitted their similar resolutions of support (for the return of the Balangiga Bells) for consideration by the National Legion.”
This, amid apparent lack of development on the recent announcement of the US Department of Defense that the historic bells would be returned.
Some US legislators, however were reported to have objected to the plan.
Two of the Balangiga Bells are in F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a third is in a US military base in South Korea.
The Balangiga Bells, once found in Balangiga Church in Eastern Samar, were taken by the Americans in 1901.
Hilbero said the American Legion, in its Aug. 24 national convention to be held in its base in Indianapolis, Indiana state, is expected to adopt Resolution No. 301 titled “Bells of Banlangiga” as passed recently by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Pacific Areas.
The resolution urged “the President of the United States in collaboration with the Congress of the United States, take action to return the two Catholic Church bells now on display on F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming to the Church of San Lorenzo de Martir in the town of Balangiga, Province of Eastern Samar, Republic of the Philippines.”
It noted that the US had already returned similar war artifacts not only to Japan, Russia and Germany, but also to the Philippines in the case of the 800-pound bell now back to its origin in the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Bauang, La Union.
The resolution lamented that “for several years, it was incorrectly believed that these Bells of San Lorenzo de Martir, taken from the church in the town of Balangiga, Samar, had been used during the Philippine-American War as signal of a surprise attack on American Soldiers garrisoned in that town.”
The resolution noted that while the Philippines had been for decades America’s strongest friend in Asia, the 600-pound bells later became “a source of misunderstanding and rancor between friends and allies.”
It noted that “war relics” such as the Balangiga Bells violated the US Army’s General Order 100 which implemented the Lieber or Lincoln’s Code protecting private property and was put in effect during the Philippine- American war of 1899-1902.
The American Legion is a US war veterans organization made up of state, US territory and overseas departments which are made up of local posts. Its legislative body is a national convention, slated Aug. 24 this year.
The organization was founded in Paris, France and was chartered in 1919 by the US Congress.
