SINCE he was a child, Van Matthew Rosales has been fascinated by the bravery and the heroic deeds of their ancestors who took part in the "Balangiga Encounter" on September 28, 1901.
"My mother told me the story of the encounter. Since Grade 1, I took part in the reenactment," the 22-year-old Rosales said.
Known as the "single worst defeat" of American forces during the 1899-1902 Philippine-American War, the Balangiga Encounter also led to the infamous "kill and burn" campaign of Gen. Jacob Smith who ordered his men to round up and kill all male residents over 10 years old or who are capable to carry a rifle.
"I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me.... The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness," Smith was quoted as saying.
The incident became known as the Balangiga Massacre after more than 5,000 Balangiga villagers were killed.
As spoils of war, the Americans took the church bells which were used to signal the attack of the Filipino guerrillas who killed at least 40 soldiers at the American garrison stationed in the town 117 years ago.
When the news broke out that the "Balangiga Bells" will soon return to their town, Rosales, along with the residents in their town, said that he's very excited.
"It's like unbelievable that after very long years the bells will return to its home," he told VoxPop Phlippines.
The Philippine government welcomed the intention of the United States to return the Balangiga Bells.
Two bells are on display at F. E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the third is kept at the 9th US Infantry Regiment in South Korea.
"We have been informed of the announcement by the US Department of Defense about the Balangiga Bells. We welcome this development as we look forward to continue working with the United States Government in paving the way for the return of the bells to the Philippines," Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement over the weekend.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis signed the documents favoring the return of the bells as the people of Balangiga celebrated the feast day of its patron San Lorenzo de Martir on August 10, according to the Malacanang communications office.
The US Embassy in Manila also confirmed the move of the US government to return the Balangiga bells to the Philippines.
"Secretary of Defense Mattis has notified Congress that the Department intends to return the Bells of Balangiga to the Philippines... We've received assurances that the Bells will be returned to the Catholic Church and treated with the respect and honor they deserve," said Deputy Press Attache Trude Raizen of the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
"We are aware that the Bells of Balangiga have deep significance for a number of people, both in the United States and in the Philippines," she added.
However, the US government did not give a specific date on when the bells would be transported back to the country.
"If the news is true then that would be a great news for us. That would be a cause for celebration, not only for Balangiga but perhaps for all Filipinos," Balangiga Mayor Randy Graza said.
The mayor admitted that he learned on the "positive updates" of the Balangiga Bells from a US veteran organization.
The renewed interest on the return of the Balangiga Bells occurred following the signing of the US National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 by US President Donald Trump on December 12, 2017, which according to the Malacanang Palace, "gives the US Defense Secretary the chief authority to decide on the return of the Balangiga Bells."
President Rodrigo Duterte, who openly expressed his admiration for Trump, highlighted the demand for the return of the Balangiga Bells during his July 2017 State of the Nation Address.
"Give us back those Balangiga bells. They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage," the firebrand president said in his speech.
On August 10, historian Dr. Rolando Borrinaga, who started his involvement in the bells campaign in 1994 when he linked the bells issue with the 50th anniversary of the Leyte Landing, posted on his Facebook an initial development on the return of the bells, citing Mayor Rita Gomez Sanders, a Filipino-American politician in Bellevue, Nebraska.
"Good news today! The Secretary of Defense announced the return of the Bells!" the mayor said in her message.
"The return of the bells could help dissipate much of the animosity and rough language that have characterized the current state of relations between the two countries over the past two years," Borrinaga said in his media interviews.
Borrinaga, who is the author of the book "The Balangiga Conflict Revisited," added that the return of the Balangiga Bells "is virtually the unresolved 'last issue' pertaining to the Philippine-American War."
American author Michael Sellers, whose Filipina wife hails from Balangiga's adjacent town Lawaan, also lauded the development on the return of the bells.
"Miracles do happen: The US is finally returning the Balangiga Bells to the Philippines," said Sellers in his Facebook post.
Sellers, who also wrote about the Balangiga encounter, acknowledged the efforts of Borrinaga and British author Bob Couttie, and others who lobbied hard for the return of the bells.
According to Sellers, the return of the bells "is something that generations of Filipinos have dreamed of...."
Earlier, Borongan, Samar Bishop Leonardo Medroso appealed on the return of the bells, saying: "They are religious artifacts with considerable significance in the Catholic tradition. Among many other uses, they call people to prayer and worship. As such they are inappropriate trophies of war."
"Hence, they should be returned to the place where they belong and to the purpose for which they were cast and blessed. And since these bells belong to the Roman Catholic Church of the Parish of Balangiga, they should be returned to the Catholic community of Balangiga."
The notoriety of the incident was revisited in a 2017 multi-awarded Filipino film entitled "Balangiga: Howling Wilderness."
At present, the Balangiga church's belfry remains empty as a reminder of the bells' loss.