The purpose of this post is not to incite further hatred towards America nor an expression of my own resentment, if there is. This is a sort of an eye-opener for everybody, so that we should not be quick to react in pure hatred and then ask God for a ball of fire to fall on the evil people or terrorists. We need to look at our own faults too.
9-11. It was on September 11, 2001 when Islamic extremists separated into three groups hijacked three commercial airplanes and two of them successfully smashed into the twin World Trade Center buildings respectively. About 5000 3000 people died.
The Americans were furious. I was furious. The whole world was furious. But then…
9-27 9-28. A similarly bloody date nobody cares to remember, Balangiga (bala-ngee-ga) in the island of Samar. In the fateful early morning of September 28, 1901 the American soldiers were doing their routine for that day’s work. Suddenly, a band of Filipino guerrillas armed only with bolos, massacred the men of Company C of the 9th Regular Infantry. Approximately 50 soldiers were hacked to death.
American soldiers retaliated to the “perpetrators†or “rebels†to pay for the “crimes†they had committed. They practically burned the whole town including the innocent villagers.
American Gen. Jacob “Howling Jake” Smith, ordered to “kill everyone over ten (years old).†Everyone means it included innocent women and children. Thousands of Filipinos died.
Although the American people where indignant of the incident, Gen. Smith was not heavily punished for his crime.
“The supremacy of the United States must and will be enforced throughout every part of the Archipelago and those who resist it can accomplish no end other than their own ruin.”
Excerpt from the Proclamation of the First Philippine (Schurman) Commission, addressed to the Filipino people on April 4, 1899.
What the Americans were doing in the Philippines in the first place?
America and Spain staged a “mock naval war†on the coast of Manila after America “bought†the Philippines from Spain (the first to colonize the country) for 20 million dollars (Treaty of Paris), then they set up strongholds all over the country-usually by force, and one of this is in the town named Balangiga situated in the island of Samar.
America colonized the Philippines from 1898 to 1947.
Presently, America has in their custody three church bells they took during that day of mass slaughter. The Philippine government requested America to return the said precious historical piece. America would not budge.
You are wise in placing a brief disclaimer in the beginning of your post because many people tend to overeact when they see the term “9/11”.
Interesting post.
We actually re-enacted the Balangiga Masacre in a play back when we were in freshman college. The Americans apparently took the church bells of Balangiga as booty for this mission. The Philippine Government has been asking for the longest time for the bells to be returned but the US has never budged an inch.
Hello! I am myphemaster at noypi.org
This post is a piece worth snap Philippine history.
kiss
Fendi
I actually wrote this a few days after the September 11, 2001 attack. What prompted me to write the above was after i read an article by an American teen, her article sounded like “the terrorists are evil, and America is good, the terrorists are envious of us.”
Then i remembered what America did to another country almost 100 years before.
I still wonder why they keep the bells as if these are a bunch of terrorists’ heads.
A lot of interesting information about Balangiga and its bells can be found at Rolando Borrinaga’s website. He’s an Inquirer columnist that writes about Eastern Visayas (Leyte and Samar).
I’ve also managed to locate two of the Bells of Balangiga in Google Maps. See my post at Vista Pinas.
You fail to mention in your article that the attackers hid in the church the night before disguised as women pretenting to be there to attend a funeral, had hid bolos in a child size casket and the next morning the bells were used to signal the attack. Sorry, but when you use the sanctity of the church for a sneek attack you give up any rights to the property. If the attackers had not used the church or the bells as part of the attack it would be a much different situation. I believe it is called being held accountable for your actions. Additionally, since the early 1980s the Philippine government has made repeated attempts to have the bells returned through political coersion, threats of financial impact, involvent of the church, biased speaches in Cheyenne, WY, etc., all which have been received as having less than honorable intentions. If there could be an agreement that one bell would be returned directly and with dignity to a veterans group in the village of Balangiga without being paraded through downtown Manila or a show of gloating by politicans, this issue could be resolved. One bell would remain where it is. Something to consider. J.D.