MANILA, Philippines — The return of the historic Balangiga bells to the Philippines would not have been possible without the help of the Central Intelligence Agency, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

In December, the three bells of the San Lorenzo de Martir Parish Church in Balangiga, Eastern Samar taken by American troops as war booty in 1917 arrived in the country.

In a speech during the first anniversary of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, the president claimed that the CIA interfered in the return of the bells.

"So, the return of the bells after having been there in the far and wide, in between the years, for the demand for their return could not have happened had the CIA not interfered. It would not have been returned if was government-to-government only," Duterte said Wednesday night.

'It's just drama'

Duterte further insisted that he tricked the CIA into believing that one of his ancestors was among those who died in Balangiga.

"And I said, 'You know, one of those who died there must have been my great, great, great grandfather.' 'Really?' 'Yes!' It's not true. It's just drama," the president said.

The return of the Balangiga bells may have happened during the Duterte presidency but the campaign was more of a veterans-to-veterans effort, a historian earlier said.

Rolando Borrinaga, secretary of the National Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, said there was no paper trail on the Duterte administration's effort to return the Balangiga bells.

"There has been no paper from the Philippines related to this campaign. It seems like a successful legislation in the US to return the bells to us," Borrinaga told ABS-CBN's "Bandila" in November.

Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion

The historian explained that the campaign to return the Balangiga bells to the Philippines started from two major war veteran organizations in the US — the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

The two organizations started the campaign about two to three years ago to convince the larger community of American war veterans to return the bells to the Philippines.

Furthermore, the return of the Balangiga bells to the country also depended on US Congress, which had to pass a law that would allow their return.

Borrinaga pointed out that the two war veteran groups also influenced American lawmakers, making way for the passage of the US National Defense Authorization Act of 2018.

This special legislation alloed the "exception of transfer of veterans memorial objects to foreign countries without specific authorization in law."

Duterte: CIA planning to kill me

While Duterte claims that he coordinated with the CIA for the return of the Balangiga bells, he also earlier accused the agency of planning to kill him.

In August last year, the president claimed that the US, particularly the CIA, was monitoring his mobile phone conversations.

"They will kill me, those! ...Their attention os focused on leaders," Duterte said in Filipino.

A few days after Duterte accused the CIA of plotting to assassinate him, then presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said there was no imminent threat on his life.

"There is none. The president as you know is not bothered by whatever threats against him. He said this repeatedly that if it is his time, it’s really his time. But I repeat, there is no such threat," Roque said.