A central Philippine town yesterday erupted in joy as bells looted from its church more than a century ago by US troops were turned over to the community.
Children waving bell-shaped signs and tearful residents in Balangiga gathered to welcome home the three bells that are a deep local source of pride.
The US flew the bells to Manila this week after decades of urging by the Philippines.
US troops carted away the bronze objects as trophies after razing the town and killing potentially thousands of Filipinos in reprisal for a surprise 1901 attack that left 48 of their comrades dead.
For the people of Balangiga the bells are a symbol of the Philippines’ long struggle for independence and a dark chapter which is the subject of an annual remembrance event locally.
“It’s not just me but the whole town is walking in the clouds because the bells are finally with us,” 81-year-old Nemesio Duran told reporters.
“We are the happiest people on Earth now,” Duran said, adding that he is descended from a boy who rang one of the bells, long said to have signalled the attack on the Americans.
The bells arrived in Balangiga late on Friday ahead of an official handover ceremony yesterday, but the town’s streets were already crowded with people and vendors selling T-shirts saying “Balangiga bells finally home.”
The ceremony was not far from the town plaza that holds a monument with statues of the American soldiers having breakfast as the Filipino revolutionaries raise their machetes at the start of the onslaught.
Manila has been pushing for the bells’ return since at least the 1990s, with backing from Philippine presidents, its Catholic Church and supporters in the US.
However, the repatriation was long held back by some US lawmakers and veterans who viewed the bells as tributes to fallen soldiers.
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