Balangiga and Guiuan

Where Church Bells Were Taken As War Trophies In 1901 And Came Home In 2018 And Where Typhoon Yolanda Made Its First Landfall · Balangiga, Eastern Samar

IN SEPTEMBER 1901 THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF BALANGIGA ATTACKED AN AMERICAN GARRISON AND KILLED MOST OF IT. THE RETALIATION TURNED SAMAR INTO WHAT AN AMERICAN ORDER CALLED A HOWLING WILDERNESS, and the church bells were carried off as war trophies to the United States. THEY STAYED THERE FOR OVER A CENTURY WHILE FILIPINOS CAMPAIGNED FOR THEM, AND THEY WERE RETURNED IN DECEMBER 2018 - they hang in the church at Balangiga now and the town is quietly, enormously proud of them. THE OTHER HALF OF THIS COAST IS MORE RECENT. GUIUAN, AN HOUR AWAY, IS WHERE TYPHOON YOLANDA MADE ITS VERY FIRST LANDFALL ON 8 NOVEMBER 2013, before it reached Tacloban - the sixteenth-century Immaculate Conception church there was wrecked and has been slowly rebuilt. EASTERN SAMAR IS POOR, BEAUTIFUL AND ALMOST UNVISITED. Both churches are working parishes rather than monuments, there is little infrastructure anywhere in the province, and banking is thin enough that cash is not optional.

Balangiga and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Balangiga, Eastern Samar, Philippines

EASTERN SAMAR IS REACHED VIA TACLOBAN, roughly THREE TO FOUR HOURS BY ROAD to Guiuan and a little less to Balangiga, or by small flights into Guiuan with limited service. THE CHURCH AT BALANGIGA IS AN ACTIVE PARISH, open and free, and THE RETURNED BELLS HANG THERE - ask before photographing during services. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH AT GUIUAN is also an active parish and is still being restored after 2013. CALICOAN ISLAND, beyond Guiuan, has a SURF BREAK AND SIMPLE RESORTS and the swell runs roughly OCTOBER TO MARCH. THERE IS LITTLE TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE ANYWHERE in the province. THE TYPHOON SEASON, ROUGHLY JUNE TO JANUARY, HITS THIS COAST FIRST AND HARDEST. Carry cash; banking is thin outside Borongan.

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