(Eagle News) — After 117 years, the Balangiga bells have finally been returned to the Philippines.
The bells–two of which had been housed in a military base in Wyoming, the United States, and another in a US military base in South Korea—arrived at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay via a US Air Force C-130 plane.
The plane had departed from the US’ Okinawa base in Japan.
The bells will remain in the Villamor Airbase until they are transported back to Eastern Samar on Saturday, Dec. 15.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who first criticized the United States for the taking of the bells in his July 2017 State of the Nation Address, is expected to lead a ceremony in the province upon the bells’ arrival.
The bells were taken by American soldiers from Balangiga during the Filipino-American War in 1901.
The taking of the artifacts as war booty was in retaliation for the killing of 48 out of 74 US soldiers.