QUIET CELEBRATION. The Balangiga Incident Marker in Eastern Samar hours before the 119th Balangiga Encounter Day simple ceremony. The town of Balangiga marked the Encounter Day on Monday (Sept. 28, 2020) without festivities and re-enactment due to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Steven Astron)
TACLOBAN CITY – The town of Balangiga in Eastern Samar marked the 119th Balangiga Encounter on Monday without festivities and re-enactment due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Balangiga town tourism officer Fe Campanero said the anniversary was simple with no guests from other towns, except for some personnel of the Philippine Army.
“There were only about less than 100 people who witnessed the 30-minute ceremony. We have to make sure of the observance of physical distancing,” Campanero told the Philippine News Agency.
The ceremony that ended at 10:30 a.m. included the mass, candle lighting, wreath laying, and ringing of bells.
Leading the wreath laying ceremony in front of the monument of local hero, Capt. Valeriano Abanador, at the town plaza were Mayor Randy Graza, Army’s 801st Brigade deputy battalion commander, Col. Lenart Lelina, and some local officials.
“This is the simplest ceremony since we’ve been holding formal celebrations since 1992,” Campanero said.
The Balangiga Encounter happened on Sept. 28, 1901, when town residents led by Valeriano Abanador initiated an attack against US soldiers.
The villagers killed 54 American soldiers using bolos. It was the biggest defeat of the foreign troops during the Philippine-American war.
However, around 2,500 Filipinos were killed by the Americans’ retaliatory attack.
The Americans took the Balangiga Bells after they turned the town into a “howling wilderness”.
After 117 years, the US government returned the bells to the country nearly two years ago.
President Rodrigo Duterte witnessed the repatriation ceremony held on Dec. 15, 2018 in Balangiga town.
Balangiga town is about 98 kilometers east of Tacloban City. It is a fourth-class town in Eastern Samar, with a population of 14,085. (PNA)
