By Manny Piñol
It was President Rody Duterte himself, upon learning that I was in Eastern Samar, who suggested that I visit Balangiga, a quaint coastal town facing the Pacific Ocean, whose brave men wrote history 115 years ago.
“Take some pictures and talk to the people there,” the President told me by phone Thursday night.
What was it that made Balangiga part of Philippine history?
Here is wikipedia.com‘s entry of that bloody event which until today has left a thorn between Philippine-U.S. relations:
“On September 28, 1901, Filipino freedom fighters from the village of Balangiga ambushed Company C of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, while they were at breakfast, killing an estimated 48 and wounding 22 of the 78 men of the unit, with only four escaping unhurt. The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition. An estimated 20 to 25 of the villagers had died in the fighting, with a similar number of wounded.[4]
“In reprisal, General Jacob H. Smith ordered that Samar be turned into a “howling wilderness” and that any Filipino male above ten years of age capable of bearing arms be shot. From the burned-out Catholic town church, the Americans looted three bells which they took back to the United States as war booty. The 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, however, maintains that the single bell in their possession was presented to the regiment by villagers when the unit left Balangiga on April 9, 1902.[5] Smith and his primary subordinate, Major Littleton Waller of the United States Marine Corps were both court-martialled for illegal vengeance against the civilian population of Samar. Waller was acquitted of the charges. Smith was found guilty, admonished and retired from service.[6]”
The Balangiga Attack is considered as one of the single worst defeat of American forces in the history of the US military.
Historians say that the attack of the Warays on the American soldiers was a result of the oppression and cruelty of the members of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment on 80 local men whom they held captive and forced to do hard labor.
With the pealing of the bells of the Balangiga Church, the Warays, armed with knives and bolos, attacked the Americans which resulted in a reprisal where an estimated 50,000 men were killed or disappeared.
The US forces also took with them the three bells of the Balangiga Church two of which are now in the US while the small bell is brought by the present US 9th Infantry Regiment wherever they are dispatched.
Appeals for the return of the bells have fallen on deaf American ears while no formal apology has ever been issued by the US Government for the disappearance and massacre of an esimtated 50,000 Samarenos.
Last Friday, on my way to Tacloban City from a dialogue with farmers and fishermen in the Samar Island Program for Peace and Development (SIPPAD) in Borongan City, I dropped by the historic town.
I had goosebumps all over me as I stood in front of the memorial celebrating the victory of the bolo and knife-weilding Warays over the well-armed Americans.
After taking a few pictures, the mayor of Balangiga, Mayor Randy Graza who was surprised by my sudden visit, rushed to where we were – in front of the Balangiga Church.
Mayor Graza then invited me to his simple office where he asked for the DAs support for the construction of a 9-kilometer road which would connect several barangays to the town proper.
I immediately instructed DA Leyte-Samar Region Director Wilson Cerbito to undertake an engineering study and after validation implement the project under the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP).
The road project, which has long been asked by the people of Balangiga from the national government, is estimated to cost P90-million.
Mayor Graza also asked for the establishment of a communal irrigation project in his town which I also said would be granted after the conduct of engineering studies and validation.
The Mayor profusely thanked President Duterte for sending me to Balangiga.
I told him the projects given to the town by government was President Duterte’s way of showing his admiration to the courage and heroism of the Balangiga-anons displayed 115 years ago.
(Photos of our visit to Balangiga taken by John Pagaduan while old photos of the bells and the survivors of the 9th US Infantry Regiment downloaded from wikipedia.com)
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