Why did the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. insist on adding another anthem to “Lupang Hinirang” and the pledge “Panatang Makabayan” on June 4, 2024, nearly a year after the country was told that the regime would be launching “Bagong Pilipinas” to describe his administration, without discussing what this blurb means?
Now, the hymn will have to be sung in schools, government offices and everywhere else where the “newly minted” anthem will become the latest patriotic ditty in a country where patriots are extremely rare. In fact, this “Bagong Pilipinas” hymn is not similar to the song “Bagong Pilipinas” composed by Noel Cabangon and Rom Dongeto and sung during the inauguration of the late President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
So eager is the regime in promoting the “Bagong Pilipinas” hymn that it failed to check whether there is already a copyright to that blurb, and whether it also snatches the creative work of composer Felipe Padilla de Leon, who wrote “Bagong Pilipinas” in 1942 as the hymn of the Second Philippine Republic, which is properly a Japanese-controlled puppet government. Catalino S. Dionisio wrote the lyrics of the song. Marcos Jr.’s grandfather Mariano Marcos worked for the Japanese and was executed by Ilocano guerrillas in La Union. Catalino S. Dionisio wrote the lyrics of the song.
Dionisio’s “Bagong Pilipinas” lyrics are as follows: Tindíg! Aking Ináng Bayan/ Lahing pilî sa Silangan/ Iwaksî natin ang nakaraán/ Yakapin ang bagong buhay/ Hawakan ang watawat/ Ng pagpápakasipag/ Ibandila, iwasiwas/ Ang pagbabagong tatág/ Lakad at harapín/ Pagtatanggól sa layunin/ Hirap, sakit ay tiisín/ Upang makamít ang mithiin/ Gumawâ, bumuó, at magbatá/ Itatág ang silangang Asya/ Lupalop na maguinhawâ/ Kasaganaang sama-sama.
The hymn inflicted on Filipinos by the Japanese invaders was known as “Stand! My Motherland” in English, with the following lyrics: Chosen race in the East/ Let us end the past/ Embrace the new life/ Hold the flag/ Of hardworking-ness/ Flourish, brandish/ The founding anew/ Walk and face/ The defense of the purpose/ Hardship and pain, we endure/ In order to achieve our goal/ Make, form, and endure/ Establish East Asia/ Continent of wealth/ Prospering all together.
De Leon was the same composer of “Bagong Lipunan,” a march for the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) of the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., with lyrics by Levi Celerio. This march, ridiculed from 1973 until now, had the following lyrics: May bagong silang/ May bago nang buhay/ Bagong bansa, bagong galaw/ Sa Bagong Lipunan!/ Magbabago ang lahat, tungo sa pag-unlad/ At ating itanghal: Bagong Lipunan!/ Koro: Ang gabi’y nagmaliw nang ganap/ At lumipas na ang magdamag/ Madaling araw ay nagdiriwang/ May umagang namasdan/ Ngumiti na ang pag-asa sa umagang anong ganda!
The English lyrics are the following: There is new birth/ There is now a new life/ A new country, a new movement/ In the New Society! /Everything will change towards progress/ And let us extol: [A] New Society!/ The chorus reads: The night has departed completely/ And the midnight has passed/ The dawn celebrates/ For morning was seen/ Hope smiles down upon/ On this morning, oh so beautiful!
Apart from singing “Bagong Lipunan,” all Filipinos were also compelled to sing the Japanese national anthem “Kimigayo,” in effect making all Filipinos beholden to Tokyo, which supposedly overthrew US imperialism only to inflict Japanese fascism and its ill-fated Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping is reminding the Koreans and Japanese that they, and the Chinese, belong to one race and must eventually unite.
Marcos Jr. now wants his slogan “Bagong Pilipinas” to be festooned in all government programs and projects to show that his government has a principle of governance that systematizes delivery of services, eschews partisanship and prohibits bickering, character assassination at internecine warfare. However, this “Bagong Pilipinas” mantra was crafted behind the backs of Filipinos who cannot make heads or tails about what Malacanang is talking about. What is certain is that it is back to sloganeering, an activity closely associated with bloviating and being busy doing nothing. Julian Felipe’s “Lupang Hinirang,” with lyrics by Jose Palma, and the “Panatang Makabayan” have kept the country whole. There is no sense singing two national anthems and two pledges when one is hungry and underpaid.
Again, the Palace aims to show that this “Bagong Lipunan” thing was well-thought-out, not an Ant-Man episode that led to Marcos Jr.’s running for the presidency in 2022. As the Marcos Jr. directive Memorandum Circular 24 says, Bagong Pilipinas “calls for deep and fundamental transformations in all sectors of society and government, and fosters the State’s commitment towards the attainment of comprehensive policy reforms and full economic recovery.” How this circular seeks to implement these motherhood statements escapes all of us.
In the end, the memo dwells on a slogan “characterized by a principled, accountable and dependable government.” “Bagong Pilipinas” appears to be a resurrection of “Bagong Lipunan,” which was a borrowing from Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” and the false hopes of the Japanese-sponsored “Bagong Pilipinas.” Let us see if this reinforced “Bagong Pilipinas” slogan and its compendium “Panata sa Bagong Pilipinas” would eradicate poverty, hunger, corruption and violence, venality in the corridors of power and transactional politics that legislated unjust laws.
