TACLOBAN CITY — Music to the ears.

This was how Maida Elaba described President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement on Monday that he would seek the return of the three church bells from Balangiga that were taken by American soldiers as war booty.

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“Wow. When we heard it from the President, we all rejoiced. There were shouts of joy,” said Elaba, a great-granddaughter of Valeriano Abanador, one of the leaders of Filipino rebels who attacked American troops on Sept. 28, 1901, and killed about 50 of them.

“Hopefully, this time, it will be for real,” said Elaba, a municipal secretary of Balangiga town in Eastern Samar.

The residents of the sleepy town have been clamoring for the return of the bells, used by the Filipino resistance fighters to signal the attack on the American detachment.

“We Balangiganons are glad about the President’s pronouncement regarding our bells,” said Fe Campanero, niece of Vicente Candilosas, one of the Filipinos who fought against the Americans.

“I hope it does not end here. I hope he will help our present efforts to have our bells back,” she added.

For many Balangiga residents, the more immediate concern is the slow-moving shelter program for survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), which devastated Eastern Visayas in November 2013.

As Mr. Duterte spoke about the bells, some Balangiga residents joined a protest on Monday by the Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP) in Tacloban City to press demands for the immediate implementation of promised shelter programs.

“During Aquino’s administration, nothing came out of his ‘build back better’ promise. In the current administration, the campaign promise to us survivors that we have one foot inside Malacañang seems to translate now into us having one foot in the grave,” said Marife Juana.

At a news conference in Manila, the CYSP called on the National Economic and Development Authority to conduct an audit of the National Housing Authority resettlement sites, described as substandard without provision for livelihood and social services.

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“We fear that the NHA is constructing ghost towns, or houses without occupants,” said CYSP coordinator Joli A. Torella. —With a report from Jaymee T. Gamil

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