There are three bells in San Miguel town that are immensely valuable parts of the town’s heritage: one that is 157 years old, one is 123 years old, and another that is 114 years old as of 2021.

        All these bells are housed inside a building beside the belfry. This structure was constructed by an organization called The Parishoners, who constructed the building to preserve the bells because in 1999, new bells donated by San Miguel parishioners who relocated to Manila were used. The new bells were installed in a new belfry built by Pag-Urusa ’78, a church organization composed of professionals in the San Miguel Parish.

        The smallest and oldest of the bells is 14 centimeters long and 15 centimenters in diameter. Engraved in the middle part of the bells’ body are the words “Patron de San Miguel 1864 Marso 2”.

        The medium sized of the three has the inscription “January 1907” around it. Its diameter is 55 centimeters and its length is 53 centimeters. Around the middle part of this bell is an inscription that reads “Ynin Linganay Hinumduman Han Ngatanan o Litan nga mga Inanak Han Bungto han San Miguel Tuig 1907 Enero’’.

        The biggest of the three weighs 1,265 pounds. It has a length of 110 centimeters and diameter of 112 centimeters.  Embossed in it are the words ‘’La Sagrada Familia Jesus Maria Jose Se Hiso En Tiempo Del M:RPF Rufino Santos Año 1898”. Translated to English, the words mean, “The Holy Family Jesus Mary Joseph It Was Made In Time Of Most Reverend Friar Rufino Santos Year 1898” with MPRF meaning Muy Reverendo Padre Fray which was how the Spanish friars were addressed.

        Fr. Rufino Santos, namesake of the first Filipino cardinal, was a Spanish priest whose previous post was in the Holy Rosary Parish in Angeles City, where he served from 1893 – 1897. San Miguel could be the last post of Fr. Santos and he could have been the last Spanish priest in San Miguel as the Spaniards ceded the Philippines in 1898 with the Treaty of Paris.

        The 1898 bell made under the time of Fr. Santos was damaged in the 1950s after it fell off the wooden belfry in the midst of a strong typhoon. It was repaired and used again but in 1983, this bell was sold without the knowledge and consent of the people, who demanded for its return.

        The dates of the bells in San Miguel (1864, 1898 and 1907) are only about a decade apart with the dates of the famous bells of Balangiga (1853, 1889, 1895).

        Centuries ago, the church or the priest did not just serve the religious needs of the community, as the parish priest used to wield administrative authority over the town such as supervising the elections, administering the education of the children, overseeing taxation and other governance-related activities.

        With the union of the Church and State in the past, these bells are more than just religious symbols. They guided the townfolks in everyday life, sounded the alarm for emergencies like fires or sightings of approaching Moro pirates, or signaling happy events like fiestas and other religious activities. The bells were part and parcel of every San Miguelnons lives.

References:

 https://deskpubgroup.wordpress.com/2009/03/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_bells