MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday urged the United States Congress to authorize his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to return the Balangiga bells.

"Sabi ko, but one day, isali ko ito sa message ko to the nation and I will demand for its return. The Americans says that they are processing it. So I hope that Congress of America will give the President Trump the authority to return the bells to us," Duterte said in a speech at the 116th anniversary of the Balangiga Encounter in Eastern Samar.

"We are not angry at you. We are just saying that those bells would touch in the core of our existence as a Filipino," he added.

Duterte had been angered by the lack of concrete commitment from the U.S. to return the Balangiga bells.

In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), with US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim among the audience, Duterte asked the U.S. to return the Balangiga bells.

• READ: US to address Balangiga bells issue, says envoy

The 3 church bells were taken by the US Army from the town of Balangiga, Eastern Samar in 1901 as war booty.

Despite the Philippines' several attempts to get them back, the bells remain at an American Air Force base in Wyoming.