Return of Balangiga bells should’ve come with US apology — Zarate
Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate (CDN PHOTO/CHOY ROMANO)
MANILA, Philippines — The Balangiga Bells was finally returned to the Philippines. But a congressman has found the arrival of the historical artifact lacking of an equally important element: apology from the US.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said Tuesday the US should have delivered the Balangiga Bells to the country with its “official and public apology for the atrocities they committed” during the Philippine-American war.
“US should also issue an official and public apology for the atrocities they committed in Samar during the Philippine-American War and compensate the descendants of the victims,” Zarate said in a statement.
On Tuesday morning, a US C-130 cargo plane brought the bells to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City after making brief stops in Guam and Okinawa in Japan. Two of the Balangiga Bells came all the way from a military base in Wyoming while the other one came from a US base in South Korea where it was displayed.
American soldiers took the bells as war trophies in 1901, after Filipinos rebelling against US rule used the bells to signal an attack against American forces where 48 US soldiers were killed.
The US forces retaliated by razing Balangiga town to the ground.
READ: LOOK: Balangiga Bells flown to Manila
READ: After 117 years, Balangiga Bells return to the Philippines
Zarate noted the Balangiga bells signified the problems brought by US to the Philippines. He then said that aside from the famed bells, US must also return other “war booties” they seized from different parts of the Philippines, and pay relatives of people killed or wounded by the colonizers.
“These bells are emblematic of the continuing injustice committed against our country and people in the name of the hegemonic and imperialist greed of America,” Zarate said.
“The US should also return other war booties they took from other areas in our country and pay reparations for the damages they have done on our people,” he added. /kga
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