Pimentel urges stronger action to recover Balangiga bells, other art treasures

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. on Thursday urged the government to take more aggressive steps in recovering the Philippine cultural and art treasures taken by foreigners during the colonial area. In a press statement, Pimentel said the Philippine government has been trying but has so far failed to recover the Balangiga bells taken by American occupation troops from Balanginga town in Samar in 1902. The bells were later brought to a military base in Wyoming, Iowa in the United States where they were put in display as war booties. "While American government officials were sympathetic to our plea for the recovery of the Balanginga bells, certain sectors in the US society have successfully blocked their efforts to help us get back these bells," Pimentel said. Pimentel said the laws of war exclude the confiscation of non-war materials like the Balanginga bells which were obviously of religious, rather than of military significance. He said those opposed to the return of the Balanginga bells were war survivors or descendants of American soldiers who fought the Filipino insurrectionist forces in the early 1900s. As he called for stronger government action to stop the looting of Philippine artifacts by foreigners who sell them to museums, arts and auction houses and commercial outlets abroad, Pimentel asked for additional funding for the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to boost efforts for the return of the historical artifacts and artistic works. "The NCCA should be adequately equipped to pursue efforts to recover artifacts that were stolen and smuggled out of the country by Spanish, American and Japanese invaders and colonizers" Pimentel said. He said during the Senate plenary debates on the proposed National Cultural Heritage Act, the Golden Tara, a historic artifact of a Hindi deity made by artisans in Agusan, taken by American archeologists and transported to a museum in Chicago was mentioned. Pimentel also underscored the need to preserve and protect the archeological sites and relics, monuments, churches and other structures of historical and cultural significance. He said the Huluga caves in Cagayan de Oro, containing rare metal age artifacts, were destroyed a few years ago to give way to the construction of a bridge. He said it would be a good step to identify important historical places all over the country that should be preserved for posterity. The senator said the NCCA, along with the National Historical Commission and other government agencies concerned, should be more proactive by reaching out to people who have knowledge of historical sites and events that should be preserved. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV