The Balangiga bells might be home earlier

We wrote a couple of weeks ago that the Balangiga bells that were taken by American soldiers as war booty more than a century ago will soon be returned home to the Philippines possibly by December. However Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babes” Romualdez will soon be meeting US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis this week in Wyoming, where two of the church bells are located, according to a report from GMA News. Ambassador Romualdez said he would be in Wyoming with Mattis on November 15 (Manila time) and they will be releasing an official statement after a military ceremony for the repatriation of the Balangiga bells.

The ceremony is expected to be held at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, according to Rolando Borrinaga of the Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Borrinaga said that the ceremony marks the journey of the two Wyoming bells back to the church in Balangiga, Eastern Samar, where they were taken. Accordingly, “The latest successful campaign for the return of the bells of Balangiga was largely a veterans-to-veterans effort. So many in the US veterans community have let their voices be known and lent their support — including national resolutions of support from both the veterans of foreign wars and the American Legion,” Borrinaga told the news.

The third Balangiga bell at the US Army museum in South Korea would also be repatriated, according to Borrinaga. Mattis earlier notified the US Congress of their intention to return the church bells that US soldiers removed from the church of Balangiga way back in 1901.

Wyoming officials oppose returning the Balangiga bells. The concurrence of US legislators to return the bells to the Philippines is necessary as mandated by the US National Defense Authorization Act for 2018.

Few people remember what happened in Balangiga on April 1902, more so that the bells were not kept in the Philippines and largely forgotten; after all we had to fight in World War II with the Americans. Just this week, the European Union celebrated the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and if my memory serves me right, not a single soul who fought in that war lived to see this occasion simply because no one would ever reach that age a hundred years later. Pretty soon, there will be no more World War II veterans alive to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of that war.

Mind you the soldiers who fought the so called Philippine Insurrection as the Americans would call it (we call it the Philippine-American War) came mostly from the Civil War and the Indian Campaign. No American soldier has lived today to witness what the world has been experiencing after them. Let’s just hope certain people would remember those times when they happened.

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Public humiliation so vicious it could strip them of their dignity awaits officials and bureaucrats found involved in graft and corruption, President Duterte warned last Wednesday. “Humiliation and maybe a loss of face is more than just the money. It is the worst way of losing whatever is left of you in this planet,” the president said at the launch of Guangzhou Automobile Corp. Motor Philippines in Pasig City.

If you ask me, this is one president who never stops complaining about corruption with his executive officials, but there is one truth that President Duterte must embrace; there are corrupt officials now seeking to run for public office. In my book, they are far worse in the sense that they feel some kind of entitlement because they are elected officials. Take a good look at the DAP and the PDAF, the Supreme Court already ordered the filing of cases against these people but what is taking them so long?

Perhaps we should take a second look at the list of those congressmen and congresswomen who should have been hauled before the court. Unfortunately, it is the Filipino people who are totally disappointed that this happened in our country.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com

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