MANILA, July 24 — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called on the United States (US) to return to the country the bells of the Balangiga church, which were seized by the US soldiers during the Philippine-American war in 1901.
“I say today give us back those Balangiga bells, they are ours, they belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage. Isauli naman ninyo, masakit yun sa amin. (Return those to us, it is painful for us),” the President said in his second State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) delivered at the Batasang Pambansa.
President Duterte noted those bells were “reminders of the gallantry and heroism” of a group of Filipino villagers who defended Samar island from American colonizers and “sacrificed their lives in the process.”
He recalled that the 1901 attack claimed the lives of 48 American officers and men, and 28 Filipinos. It also wounded 22 Filipinos. (Leslie D. Venzon/PNA)#DuterteSONA2017