The Bells of Balangiga have as much significance to the Filipino people as the Liberty Bell does to the American people.

Wyoming veterans have voted for the return of two bronze church bells taken from a coastal town in the central Philippines more than one hundred years ago. The vote may help bring an end to a long-standing dispute between the United States and the Philippines which has frequently led to the controversy.

The passage of more than a century has failed to quell the passion attached to three bronze church bells that were commandeered by American soldiers as trophies of war during a bloody conflict in the Philippines. For Filipinos demanding their return, the 500-pound bells have come to symbolize their forefathers' struggle against American colonization. For Americans in Wyoming and in an infantry division in South Korea, where the bells are displayed, they serve as memorials to 48 soldiers killed during the 1901 Balangiga Massacre in the island province of Samar, Philippines.

Col. Joseph Sestak of the Wyoming Veterans Commission says: We followed a lengthy process of getting support from the major veterans' service organizations and received no opposition and in most cases support for the return of the bells . . . returning the bells is the right thing to do given the international climate and the fact that many nations are returning war booty to the homeland from which they came.

Recent instances of returned artifacts include those from Okinawa, Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and from the US.

Requests for the repatriation have been made several times since the United States granted independence to the Philippines in 1946. In 1998 when then-Philippine President Fidel Ramos asked President Clinton for their return, an often-acrimonious controversy erupted, which led to Wyoming veterans firmly opposing the return of the artifacts, considered important in devout Filipino daily life.

Says one commentator: Much of the opposition was a result of veterans feeling they were being pressured for reasons that had nothing to do with the bells. They were told that the bells were to be placed in a monument to American atrocities, which was untrue, but no one was addressing their concerns. There was also a general feeling among veterans that both politicians and church officials were manipulating the situation for their own agendas and there was a failure of trust.

Sestak emphasizes, however, . . . the Veterans' Commission had not had a prior stand on the bells.

In mid-2004, after several discussions, a decision was made by the veterans to reconsider the issue behind closed doors to avoid the acrimonious public debate that hampered earlier attempts to discuss the issue

Opponents of the return of the artifacts leaked inaccurate details of the vote to the local Wyoming press designed to provoke negative reactions from the Philippine government and Filipino nationalists and persuade the Wyoming governor to ignore the Veterans Commission vote.

Says Sestak: Prior to being able to communicate with the Governor, it appears that someone spoke to him and convinced him to oppose the return of the bells. This was even before his own veterans' commission had an opportunity to talk to him. It was the intent of the commission to follow an orderly process and not provide any publicity until the issue was resolved. Someone thought otherwise. After the Governor either supported or opposed the transfer of the bells, we would have felt comfortable to coordinate a news release with the parties concerned. The story will now cause a raft of emotional outbursts from people that do not know the whole story.

A statement issued by the Balangiga Research Group, an group including historians and descendants of both sides of the conflict, which has researched the Balangiga Incident for a decade says: Doing the right thing is often so difficult that it is easier to rationalize doing the wrong thing. In the case of the Wyoming Veterans Commission vote to return the bells of Balangiga, it has shown to an American front-line ally in the war against terrorism, the Philippines, and to the town of Balangiga, from which the bells were taken and where today there is a monument honoring the American dead, and indeed the world, that they have the courage to do the right thing and to act with honesty and integrity. The commission deserves to be com­mended for doing the right thing. It was a courageous decision and the right decision.

(Historical note: In 1898 following the Spanish-American War, the Philippines declared independence from Spain. However, the United States acquired sovereignty under the treaty of Paris that year, Philippine independence was not recognized and war broke out between US and Filipino government forces on February 4, 1899. The war continued until formally ended by President Theo­dore Roosevelt on July 4, 1902. The Balangiga incident occurred on September 28, 1901. The abandoned town was occupied by the 11th US Infantry on September 29, 1901, until its replacement by Marines on or about October 24, 1901.)