mGa KuRo-KuRo Ni Ka UrO

Monday, June 13, 2005

Belated Happy Independence Day

TeacherSol had a post about the Philippine national anthem, “Lupang Hinirang” in her blog. Dahil katatapos lang ng ating Independence Day, naisipan kong sumulat din tungkol dito.

The following is from TeacherSol’s post:

The present generation does not seem to have the same devotion to country that we, as children, learned from our parents and teachers. At home and in school before the war, we were taught to love the Philippines as the land of our birth and "the child of the sun returning" as the English lyrics of the anthem then proclaimed. The soldiers who fought in Bataan must have gathered strength and courage from the strains of that sacred song as they resisted the alien invader, many of them to death.

Some may say that our anthem is not as martial as the Star Spangled Banner of the Americans or the Marseillaise of France to whip the blood to thoughts of glory. The Filipinos are not a bellicose people. Our "Lupang Hinirang" sings of peace, the beauty of our hills and seas and the azure skies, and the treasured liberty we will defend with our very lives. We should all rise to hear those gallant words.


I then wrote the following comments on her post. I thought I’d reproduced them here, with a few minor revisions.

What's in a song if it does not evoke any feeling?

In my view our anthem was most relevant after the World Wars. Back then, there was that sense of rebuilding and being victorious against powerful alien forces.

During the early years of Marcos' New Society era, the "bagong lipunan song" was inspiring.

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!


The song evoked a feeling of advancement and progress.

Then during the darker days of the Marcos era, the song "Bayan ko" made us feel the martyrdom of people like Ninoy who fought the dictatorship.

Quote:
Our "Lupang Hinirang" sings of peace, the beauty of our hills and seas and the azure skies, and the treasured liberty we will defend with our very lives.

For the younger generations today, what feelings do those words evoke? How would the youth relate to those words? It's becoming more and more difficult. What has happened to our hills, seas and skies? How can we defend our country when there is no visible enemy, but corrupt and incompetent people within that destroys it?

Perhaps our national anthem has become irrelevant. We can do either of two things. Change it, or change ourselves.

5 Comments:

  • Hi ka Uro,

    That was an article from INQ 7 that my friend forwarded to me thru e-mail, it really bothered me. I got different views and thought about that entry, and your comment was a different one.

    KA URO, that is a brilliant reaction to my post! Only a person full of wisdom can make such reflections of the article and my post. This is sad but true...

    "Perhaps our national anthem has become irrelevant. We can do either of two things. Change it, or change ourselves."

    By Blogger Teacher Sol, at 5:36 AM, June 14, 2005  

  • I love that your national anthem sings of peace. It inspires me to learn moe about it!

    By Blogger Nettie, at 1:20 PM, June 14, 2005  

  • I'm only worried that today's generation do not even understand the Tagalog words on the national anthem.

    By Blogger Gabeprime, at 5:39 PM, June 14, 2005  

  • hmmm... my kids do understand the tagalog words but i am not sure if they can relate to those words... the feeling of national pride is waning i guess, but are they to be blamed, together with almost every youth in the Philippines? more so, how could peasants who are deprived even take time to sing a song that could not inspire them? even the adults cannot show sometimes the pride or the devotion to his country.

    on the other hand, the spirit should be revived. perhaps blogs could be a tool, too.

    By Blogger Bing, at 1:53 AM, June 15, 2005  

  • pagka filipino e namamana, mga iho ko mga "twinkies" (mga anak ko, di na mabiro, bwa ha ha), brown on the outside but white in the inside - pero pinoy na pinoy pa rin
    mapagmahal sa magulang, masunurin, good citizens, me takot at respecto sa Dios, ok allegiance nila siguro sa canadian flag ne, pero sa tinhin ko lang ang pagmamahal natin sa Philippines e susundan din nila at nakatatak sa puso ng kabataan, di sila expressive gaya natin pero mahal din nila ang pinas,

    kung ano mahal ni mom and dad, lolo at lola e gusto din nila

    by choice di namin naturuan ng tagalog pero ngayon kusa silang nagaaral, di namin pinuwersa

    so kaya ka uro at mga kababayans, mag faith lang tayo sa mga kabataan, mababait sila, tuwa tayo di ba?

    By Blogger UNCLE FOTO., at 5:39 AM, June 15, 2005  

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