The historic Balangiga bells will arrive from the United States at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City Tuesday.
High-ranking Philippine defense and United States officials will be on hand to witness their arrival.
The Department of National Defense-Public Affairs Service said the pre-program activities will start at about 10 a.m. which include arrival, unloading, and opening of the crates.
The DND-PAS said the handover ceremony will follow at the Philippine Air Force Grandstand also at Villamor Airbase at about 1:30 p.m.
The bells will be flown in by an American military aircraft.
President Duterte has decided to lead the handover of the bells in Balangiga, Eastern Samar town on Dec. 15 instead of that at Villamor, which he was supposed to witness.
“The President, upon the recommendation of Secretary of National Defense Delfin N. Lorenzana, will no longer be attending the handover of the Balangiga bells scheduled tomorrow, Dec. 11, in Villamor Air Base,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Monday.
“The President will instead be in Samar on Dec. 15, Saturday, to turn over the bells to Balangiga officials,” he added.
The United States said Monday the return of the bells, which, for more than a century, were kept at Warren Air Force base in Wyoming, is a demonstration of their commitment to the friendship, partnership, and alliance between Manila and Washington.
“The return of the bells is of tremendous importance to many people, Americans, and Filipinos. It’s an opportunity to close a chapter and move forward looking to the future of our enduring and important alliance,” US Embassy Press Attache Molly Koscina said.
Koscina emphasized that the return of the bells is “history in the making,” ending many years of efforts by different people that required negotiations and even overcoming legal obstacles.
She said there are many people to thank for, including US Defense Secretary James Mattis and his counterpart, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who both played key roles in the process of bringing the bells back to the Philippines.
The decades-long efforts also include those of the many Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, and ambassadors from both sides who have worked for the return of the relics. (Francis Wakefield, Genalyn Kabiling, and Roy Mabasa)