The handover of the three Balangiga bells on Tuesday will put a “closure” to that episode of history between the United States and the Philippines, Malacañang said Sunday.
“We consider the occasion as an affirmation of our strong and enduring relations with our long-standing ally the United States,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
“We thank them for this gesture that would formally put a closure to a tragic and contentious episode in both our countries’ history.”
The bells were taken by the American soldiers in 1901 as spoils of war after Filipino revolutionaries supposedly used them to signal the attack on the American soldiers in the town of Balangiga during the Philippine-American War.
Two of the bells were kept at the FE Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, while the other has been in an American base in South Korea called Camp Red Cloud.
Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte, who demanded the return of the Balangiga bells, will lead the handover ceremony at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who is expected to sign a document to formally accept the bells, said he was not sure if Duterte would give a speech.
“Initially, they said the President will not speak, but he said he will be there,” Lorenzana said.
He said US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim will give a speech and read a message from US Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Lorenzana said the bells will be turned over by the US after spending over a century on foreign soil.
“The aircraft that will be bringing the three bells will arrive before lunch at Villamor Airbase,” he said.
“They are going to unload the bells, they are going to remove it from the crate and put it on display.”
The US promised to return the bells three months ago after Duterte said no further discussions would be held between the US and the Philippines unless the bells were returned.
