Bells of Balangiga

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Written by Rodolfo Carlos Vera, Bells of Balangiga relives the turbulent times of 1901 when the small, obscure town of Balangiga in Samar Province in Southern Philippines, became the bastion of heroism and self-determination.

In 1901, during the U.S. occupation of the Philippines, a small town rose up against American colonial soldiers stationed in the southern island of Samar. It was the church bells that announced the early morning attack that left 45 American soldiers dead and 22 wounded. The U.S. retaliation was swift. "I want no prisoners," Brigadier General Jacob W. Smith was said to have ordered Major Littleton Waller, the soldier he assigned to the duty. "I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn, the better you will please me." Targeted were Filipinos 10 years and older and "capable of bearing arms." Over 50,000 were killed reducing Samar's population to one-fourth.