The recent repatriation by the United States of the Balangiga bells to the Philippines serves as a catalyst to reinvigorate a tarnished U.S.-Philippines relationship. Albeit in a bit of romantic irony, with an anti-American Philippine president at the driver’s seat, the bells’ return nonetheless came in at an opportune and necessary time.
During the Philippine-American War, which occurred from 1899 to 1902, the tolling of the church bells was used as a signal by Philippine insurgents to attack American troops of the 9th Infantry Regiment stationed close to the church. Forty-eight U.S. servicemen were killed. In retaliation, Gen. Jacob Smith ordered his men to “kill anybody over 10” and turn the island of Samar into a “howling wilderness.” This reaction claimed 2,500 Filipino lives.
Coinciding with the defeat of the Philippines, the bells, all three in total, were taken as war mementos. For more than a century, the bells have been on display on U.S. bases in Wyoming and South Korea. Their return to the Philippines came at a time under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has used historical atrocities as a central theme of his rhetoric to foment domestic populism and an eventual shift of the country’s foreign policy.
While the Balangiga bells, and the Philippine-American War as a whole, provide a revolutionary backdrop for Duterte’s anti-Western and anti-U.S. narrative, his disdain for the U.S. goes far beyond the history books. While he was still mayor of the southern city of Davao, an American citizen — who was charged with possession of explosives after a blast occurred in the hotel where he was billetted — was allegedly spirited out of the country by FBI agents without having to face the country’s courts.
Strangely, the incident coincided with an event in which the Philippines was made a major non-NATO ally by then-U.S. President George W. Bush, following his government’s global war on terror. Upon assuming the presidency, Duterte has been criticized by the U.S. for his administration’s war on drugs, with the U.S. State Department blocking the sale of American-made weapons to the Philippines’ police forces.
And then, there’s the question of American reliability as an ally, as highlighted during Duterte’s meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim. The tough-talking president directly asked the ambassador why the U.S. didn’t confront China militarily while it was still in the midst of land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea.
To Duterte’s chagrin, all of these events point to a repetition of history. Despite being one of America’s historical allies, as highlighted by a long-enduring 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, the Philippines is nonetheless being treated as an expendable friend, which is further exacerbated by colonial undertones.
While the bells’ repatriation will not turn back the time of the bloody history associated with them, their return nonetheless presents a monumental opportunity for the U.S. to reassure Duterte that he can still rely on the United States as a trusted strategic ally. Especially now that China is getting stronger and more belligerent by the day in the South China Sea, the Philippines and the U.S. share a common interest in reining in China’s ambitions.
If the U.S. intends to remain significant in this part of the world, the Philippines will be without doubt the easiest ally to rely on, owing to American colonial influence in the country. However, as times have changed, and with the rabidly anti-U.S. Duterte in firm control of the country, the U.S. needs to show that it intends to to be an equal partner and that it has truly relinquished the former role of colonial master.
Melchizedek Maquiso is originally from the Philippines and is a graduate of the Master of Public Policy program at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
