BALANGIGA BELLS are now officially going to return to the Philippines!

After a century, the Balangiga Bells will return home after the hand-off from the United States.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the bells “are coming back home, they are scheduled to arrive on December 11 to a simple ceremony at Villamor Airbase in the morning." 




He also added that he suggests President Rodrigo Duterte that the bells be turned over to the Balangiga Church on December 15.

The two bells were located at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and one bell located at a U.S. military museum in South Korea.




Turning over
The turnover ceremony happened at the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, where Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez joined with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis.

"The Secretary just simply said in not so many words, 'Ambassador, these bells are now officially going to return to the Philippines,” Romualdez explained.

He added that the two Wyoming bells will be shipped to a facility in Philadelphia for restoration, before sending it to South Korea, where the third bell is located in a U.S. military museum.

Balangiga Bells’ as a history

The Balangiga bells, stands as an evidence of both countries’ histories: the people of Samar, which the bells originally located, states as a symbol of pride of the province.

The attempt to return the bells was their battle cry, which insisted that they belong to the Church. 

Historians believe that one of the bells were used to signal an attack of Filipinos against American troops, which killed 48 American soldiers.

For the Americans, the bells signifies as a war trophy for conquering Samar as retaliation to the Filipino-American War.

President Rodrigo Duterte revives the topic to return the bells discussed during the second State of the Nation Address last 2017.