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Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Town to use power of Internet to press for return of bells
BALANGIGA, Eastern Samar -- A telecom-initiated enterprise may yet help the historic town of Balangiga in Eastern Samar recover three century-old bells now in the possession of the US government.
Eastern Samar Provincial Administrator Josepu Alan A. Limbanan said during the launching of the Smart Click Internet Café in Balangiga over the weekend that he believed the facility could be a "powerful tool" in helping the town recover the church bells.
"Padalhan ninyo ng e-mail ang Congress of America. Araw-arawin nyo po," he told residents of Balangiga present during the launching. (Send e-mails to the American Congress for the return of the bells. Make it everyday if you can.)
The three church bells, one of which was rung to signal the attack by bolo-wielding tribesmen on American soldiers in the town on September 28, 1901, were taken by US troops as war booty when they left the Philippines. Two of the bells are kept at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming while the third one, a smaller bell, can be found in an American Army camp in South Korea.
Balangiga Mayor Catalina Camenforte, who has led the campaign for the return of the bells since the start of her term as mayor, said they had written to former American President Bill Clinton and the American Congress but to no avail. Camenforte, who is now on her third and last term, said a contingent from the town even went to the US to plead for the return of the bells.
Despite their failures, the mayor said they would press on with their campaign and agreed with Limbanan that the services offered by the Smart Click Internet Café would greatly help their effort.
She also said a development to the case was the recent change of hearts of many US war veterans who now want the bells returned to the Balangiga church, built over the old one who was burned down when US forces killed thousands of villagers in retaliation for the death of close to 50 American soldiers.
"We can't change history. But maybe the return of the bells would complete the healing and end the conflict. They've had it for 104 years; it's our turn now to care for them. We would like to have something tangible to show to our children," Mayor Camenforte said.
Aside from helping in their campaign to return the bells, the mayor and her son Neil Camenforte, who is Smart's business partner in the putting up of the café, said the facility would provide town residents, especially the youth, access to limitless information on the Internet.
The younger Camenforte said the Internet café, which offers services like web surfing, e-mail, chat, printing, gaming and Smart value-added services, would have a positive impact on students who would become at par with their counterparts in urban areas in information technology.
The Internet café, an air-conditioned 40-foot container van with 15 computer terminals equipped with high-speed Internet access, is the second of such facility put up by Smart in Eastern Samar.
Department of Education information technology assistant chief Catalina Q. Petilos said she would encourage the use of the Internet café in Balangiga as the computer laboratory for schools in nearby towns as well.
Smart Communications Inc. technical manager for the Visayas-Mindanao area Lito Pacolor said the Smart Click Internet Café was not just a business but it was also a "van that houses information". Pacolor, who only knew a day before that he was going to be delivering the closing remarks, said he got information for his speech from searching the web for information about Balangiga and discovering the town's historical past.
Pacolor said in a separate interview that Smart requires only a P200,000 bond from their partners in the Smart Click Internet Café business. During the trial period of six months, Smart would pay for the salaries of the attendants and get all the earnings from the Internet café. The sharing scheme between Smart and its business partner would commence after the trial period. (MDL/Sunnex)
(May 2, 2006 issue)
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