New hope for Bells of Balangiga

JUST when it seemed all but hopeless that the Philippines would ever recover the Bells of Balangiga from Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, a glimmer of hope emerged on March 23 when the Wyoming Veterans' Commission reversed itself and unexpectedly passed a resolution in favor of returning the Bells of Balangiga back to the Philippines.

The Commission members had hoped to schedule a meeting with Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal to inform him of their change of position and to explain their reasons but before they could do so, a veteran opposed to the commission's decision tipped off the Republican governor causing him to issue a statement on March 30 declaring his disagreement with the commission and his unwavering opposition to the return of the bells.

On September 28, 1901, the US 11th Infantry Regiment, known also as the "Wyoming Volunteers," swooped down on the coastal village of Balangiga, in the island of Samar, and seized three church bells from the local Catholic church as "war booty" because they were used to signal an attack against American soldiers who had occupied the town during the Filipino-American War.

Two of the bells are currently on display at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, while a third bell is held by the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment at its base in South Korea.

Wyoming Veterans' Commission chairman Robert Palmer of Cheyenne responded to the governor's statement by explaining to the press that a majority of the commission members voted to return the bells. "It's been coming up a few times in the last few months," he said.

At its December 2004 meeting, a representative from US Department of Veterans' Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi spoke before the Commission and urged the members to reconsider their past opposition to the return of the bells.

Palmer told the press that he then appointed a committee to do that and "they went into it real deep," he said, "and they came back with a recommendation."

There was a full public discussion about the recommendation to return the bells, Palmer said, and a secret ballot vote was taken with the majority voting in support of returning the bells.

The Wyoming State Legislature had passed a resolution in 1997 sponsored by Wyoming State Representative Jeff Wasserburger (R-Gillete) and Representative Jayne Mockler (D-Cheyenne) supporting the return of the bells.

But because the bells are on a U.S. military base, they are federal property and only an act of the US Congress could secure their return to the Philippines.

A number of congressional bills dating back to 1997, sponsored by Representative Bob Underwood (D-Guam), have called for the return of the bells back to the Philippines but they have never been released from their subcommittees for a floor vote.

Wyoming's two Republican senators, Mike Enzi and Craig Thomas, have lobbied against the return of the bells. In one community meeting in Sheridan, Wyoming, Senator Thomas vowed that any bill seeking the return of the bells would never go past his desk.

In a statement released to the press last week, Senator Thomas said: "I have opposed returning the bells and have sponsored legislation in the past to prevent the dismantling of the memorial at F.E. Warren. I've been in close touch with Wyoming veterans and veterans groups on this issue. There appears to be strong opposition (to returning the bells) among the veterans community."

Senator Thomas even attached a rider to a 1999 appropriations measure imposing a two-year moratorium on any effort to return the bells of Balangiga.

In 2001, when the moratorium expired, a delegation of about 100 Filipinos from throughout the US was set to converge on Warren Air Base in Cheyenne to commemorate the centennial of the removal of the bells from Balangiga on September 28. But two weeks before the event, 9/11 occurred, causing the revocation of all passes to US military bases as a national security measure, thereby effectively canceling the planned Balangiga centennial activities.

According to Veterans Commission chairperson Palmer, "The Filipinos have been wanting those bells for years, and they keep putting a lot of pressure on." In 1998, then Philippine President Fidel Ramos sought to make the sought-after bells the centerpiece of the centennial celebration of the Philippine declaration of independence. But resistance from Wyoming veterans groups killed any hope of bringing even one bell to the Philippines.

Wyoming Veterans Commission member Colonel Joseph Sestak explained the recent change of heart in a letter to the editor of the Casper Tribune: "We followed a lengthy process of getting support from the major veterans 'service organizations and received no opposition and in most cases support for the return of the bells . . . returning the bells is the right thing to do given the international climate and the fact that many nations are returning war booty to the homelands from which they came."

Bob Couttie from the Balangiga Research Group, praised the Commission members for their courageous stand. "Doing the right thing is often so difficult that it is easier to rationalize doing the wrong thing," he said.

"In the case of the Wyoming Veterans Commission vote to return the bells of Balangiga, it has shown to an American frontline ally in the war against terrorism, the Philippines, and to the town of Balangiga, from which the bells were taken and where today there is a monument honoring the American dead, and indeed the world, that they have the courage to do the right thing and to act with honesty and integrity. The commission deserves to be commended for doing the right thing. It was a courageous decision and the right decision," Couttie said.

Please send your e-mail of support for the Wyoming Veterans Commission's resolution to RSampayan@aol.com and it will be sent to commission members.

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