TACLOBAN CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte personally congratulated Mayor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez for the city government’s achievements in a short visit on Thursday.
Duterte particularly praised the collective effort of different sectors to stop illegal drugs in the city. He cited Tacloban police officers wearing body cameras to record arrests of drug suspects as commendable and worth replicating in other cities.
The president was on his way to Eastern Samar for the commemoration of the Balangiga town bells, also attended by Romualdez with more than 22 fellow mayors, Tourism Board Chief Operating Officer Cesar Montano, Rep. Yedda Romualdez, former congressman Martin Romualdez, and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.
In front of 5,000 residents of Balangiga, Duterte said he will ask the help of United States President Donald Trump to bring back the Balangiga bells to the Philippines. The bells were used to signal Filipinos to attack American troops in the town in 1901, which left at least 48 members of the 9th US Infantry Regiment dead. The American troops retaliated by setting the town on fire and killing around 2,500 Filipinos, while taking the bells as loot.
“The bells are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage,” said Duterte.