Balangiga bells back in PHL on Dec. 11, 2018, to head home to Eastern Samar on Dec. 15 — DND

The Balangiga bells will finally be back on Philippine soil on December 11, the Department of National Defense (DND) said.

The bells from the town of Balangiga in what is now Eastern Samar were taken by American soldiers as war booty in 1901. Two of the bells are on display at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, while the third bell is at a US Army museum in South Korea.

After decades of Filipinos lobbying for the return of the bells, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis formally returned them to the Philippines last month.

According to Defense department spokesperson Arsenio Andolong, the bells will be airlifted on a US Air Force plane to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, where the first turnover ceremony will take place.

"Tentatively, the arrival of the bells is set on the 11th of December. We are making preparations that they will arrive on the 11th," he said.

According to a military source, officials of the US Department of Defense and the US Pacific Command will be handing over the bells to DND officials during the ceremony.

The same source revealed that the bells will later be airlifted to Eastern Samar by a Philippine Air Force plane for their handover to church officials in Balangiga on December 15, in time for the first Simbang Gabi in the early hours of December 16.

The military source added that President Rodrigo Duterte may be at the event.

On September 28, 1901, Filipino guerrillas stormed the 9th US Infantry Regiment in Balangiga, killing 48 American soldiers. The Americans retaliated by razing towns to the ground, sending males aged 10 years and above to prison and taking the Balangiga bells.

The Americans, however, later fought side by side with Filipino soldiers to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation in 1945.

Since then, Manila has inked at least three military agreements with Washington: the 1951 Mutual Defense Agreement (MDT), the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), signed in February 2016.

The MDT states that both parties will defend themselves against external armed attack, while the VFA allows US troops to train and advise the Philippine military in its fight against terrorists but bans US forces in combat operations.

EDCA, on the other hand, provides that US forces, contractors, vehicles, vessels and aircraft may conduct activities on agreed locations inside the Philippine military bases and such activities would include: training, transit, support and other related activities; refueling of aircraft, bunkering of vessels, temporary maintenance of vehicles, vessels and aircraft; temporary accommodation of personnel; communications, prepositioning of equipment, supplies and material and deploying forces and materials. — Llanesca T. Panti/BM, GMA News