The Merck Manual of Medical Information defines amnesia as a total or partial inability to recall recent or remote experiences. Among older people, this forgetfulness is sometimes called benign senescent forgetfulness. For most of us, however, it is simply a case of short memories.
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A few months before we celebrated the centennial of Philippine Independence in 1998, there was a flurry of activity to recover the Bells of Balangiga, considering their great spiritual value as symbols of our struggle for liberty and independence. For those who suffer from short memories, let me provide a few reminders on the history of the bells.
In December 1898, as part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish-American War, the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States. In return, America agreed to pay Spain $20 million for the Islands, or roughly one dollar per native. Actually for all practical purposes, Spain had earlier been defeated by Filipino rebels, with Manila surrounded by forces under Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. To save “Spanish honor” a mock battle was staged between US and Spanish soldiers to provide some semblance of a fight aimed at averting surrender to Filipino forces.
On Feb. 4, 1898, the Philippine-American War broke out and continued up to July 1902 when US Secretary of War Alger officially declared the “insurrection” over.
In terms of brutality and atrocities committed, the Philippine-American war has been described by some historians as America’s “first Vietnam.” In his national bestseller “Flyboys,” James Bradley writes that “killing Filipino POWs was official American policy ... for those unfortunates who made it alive into American hands, widespread torture was the rule.” A Harvard-educated officer, 1st Lt. Grover Flint, testified before the US Senate on the routine torture of Filipino combatants and civilians. He described the “water cure” as standard US Army torture. This was more than a century before “waterboarding” and “rendition” entered the vocabulary of Americans.
While organized resistance ended with the capture of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in March 1901, guerrilla activities continued in many parts of the country, with Samar being one of the key areas of Filipino defiance.
Balangiga is a small town located on the southern end of Samar. In August 1901, it was occupied by Company “C” of the US 9th Infantry, led by a West Pointer, Capt. Thomas W. Connell, a veteran of the Boxer Rebellion in China. His second in command was First Lt. Edward A. Bumpus, who is reported to have exclaimed on seeing the natives of Balangiga: “Boys, we’re in Googoo land for sure now!”
Upon arrival, the first order of the day was to require all the residents to take an oath of allegiance to America. This was followed by a clean-up of the town, not necessarily for sanitation purposes but more as a security measure. The thick brush and a nearby forest area made excellent hiding places for guerrillas. Unknown to the Americans, secret meetings were already being held by the townspeople, planning an attack on the garrison.
On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 28, 1901, as the church bells started to ring continuously, a mass of angry, screaming natives with bolos and other improvised weapons pounced on the Americans who were having breakfast. Most of them were hacked to death, with part of Bumpus’ face chopped off. Connell would be stabbed repeatedly all over his body. Of the 74 men of Company “C,” only 26 survived.
Reprisal was swift. When 9th Infantry units recaptured Balangiga, 20 natives were rounded up and executed and all homes torched to the ground. A special command—the Sixth Separate Brigade—was constituted to handle the “Samar problem.” It was headed by Brig. Gen. Jacob Smith. Under him was a Marine battalion led by Maj. Littleton Waller. Smith’s orders to Waller were, “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn the better you will please me ... the interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness.” This would earn Smith the sobriquet “Howling Jake” Smith, while Waller would be known as the “Butcher of Samar.” He would carry out a scorched earth policy, burning houses, crops and livestock while torturing uncooperative townspeople.
Because of widespread publicity in the United States about the atrocities being committed in the Philippines, investigations were conducted leading to the court martial of both Smith and Waller. In the case of Smith, he would be convicted but meted out only an admonition. Waller would be acquitted but his past would cast a dark shadow over his career and eventually cost him the post of Marine Corps Commandant.
When the 9th Infantry left Balangiga, they took with them the church bells of the town as war trophies. The bells were taken to Fort Russell, now Warren Air Force Base, in Cheyenne, capital of Wyoming.
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When Gen. Fidel Ramos was secretary of defense, he asked his counterpart US Defense Secretary Dick Cheney—a former Wyoming congressman—for assistance in the return of the bells. President Corazon Aquino’s refusal to receive Cheney during a visit to the Philippines may have doomed Ramos’ request.
During President Bill Clinton’s visit to the Philippines in 1993, President Ramos again brought up the bells, hoping to have them returned for the country’s 50th year of independence from the United States, on July 4, 1996. Ramos suggested to Clinton that two copies of the bells be cast with the Philippines and Warren Air Force Base each getting one original and one copy. The formula was not acceptable to US veterans who looked on the bells as part of the booty of war and for which blood had been shed.
In December 1996, Bishop Leonardo Medroso of Borongan, Eastern Samar, wrote to the Bishop of Cheyenne, the Most Reverend Joseph Hart:
“I personally understand the position and the reason of the Wyoming veterans (who oppose the return of the bells). I, however, write you this letter for the simple fact that my people in the town of Balangiga have more reasons to reclaim and recover the said bells. Records tell that the bells were the property of the local church in Balangiga when they were taken by the American forces. As such, they keep my people in touch with the lives of their parents and grandparents, their past, their origin, their religious sentiments, and their culture. The market value of the bells may not be high but the collective sentiments that they have borne and symbolized are priceless. It is for this that through the years, my people in Balangiga have been longing to retrieve their church bells.”
Bishop Hart replied that since the bells were Air Force property, he had no authority over the bells.
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Today the Bells of Balangiga remain at Warren Air Force Base, part of a chapter in our history that may never see closure. The saddest part is that no one seems to care anymore.
