By Robbie Pangilinan
TACLOBAN CITY - President Rodrigo Duterte gave his personal congratulations to Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez for the city government’s achievements in a short visit on Thursday.
Duterte particularly praised the collective effort of different sectors to stop illegal drugs in the city. He cited Tacloban police officers wearing body cameras to record arrests of drug suspects as commendable and worth replicating in other cities.
The president was on his way to Eastern Samar for the commemoration of the Balangiga town, also attended by Mayor Romualdez, along with more than 22 fellow mayors, Tourism Board Chief Operating Officer Cesar Montano, Congresswoman Yeda Romualdez , Martin Romualdez and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos.
In front of five thousand people of Balangiga, Duterte said he will ask the help of US President Donald Trump to bring back to the Philippines the Balangiga bells. The bell sounds were used as signal for Filipinos to attack American troops in the town in 1901, which left at least 48 members of the 9th US Infantry Regiment dead. The American troops retaliated by setting the town on fire and killing around 2,500 Filipinos.
“They are ours. They belong to the Philippines. They are part of our national heritage,” said Duterte.
Two of the bells are in the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming and one is in South Korea. Last year, the US Military Academy at West Point sent back a bell to the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Bauang, La Union.
