For lack of anything to do on how to grab headlines, Sen. Vicente Sotto III, in September 18, 2018, filed Senate Bill 102, co-authored by Sen. Richard Gordon, amending RA 8491, the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.
Sotto, in plenary debates, described the last line of Lupang Hinirang, the country’s national anthem, which has the lyrics “Aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi, ang mamatay ng dahil sa ‘yo,” as defeatist, a position that drew mixed reactions.
In particular, he wanted “ang mamatay ng dahil sa ‘yo” (literally, ‘to die for you’) replaced with “ang ipaglaban ang kalayaan mo,” which literally means ‘to fight for your freedom.’
A national anthem is not what a politician thinks it is, though it is rational to say that Sotto is a musician on the side. A national anthem, more notably, is styled in the way the lyricist understood the patriotic sentiment of thenation during his time.
As trivia, the Lupang Hirang was composed by Julian Felipe and the lyrics by Jose Palma.
But, as correctly cited by Hermenegildo C. Cruz, Philippine envoy to Chile and Bolivia from 1989 to 1993, in an article written for a national broadsheet (‘Our national anthem is linked to world history, ‘Inquirer, 04 November 2018), the official hymn of the republic is also linked to global events, particularly in the collapse of Spanish colonial rule in Latin America.
The phrase ‘fight for freedom’ is expressed likewise in many national hymns of the worlds. For instance, as cited by Cruz, Guatemala’s Himno Nacional is a copycat, at least in meaning and depth, of the Filipino national hymn. It goes:
“Si mañana tu suelo sagrado lo amenaza invasión extranjera, libre al viento tu hermosa bandera a vencer o a morir llamará. (If tomorrow your sacred soil, by foreign invasion is threatened, free into the wind, your beautiful flag, to victory or death it shall call.) This was adopted in 1896 and its original lyrics written by (what a coincidence!) by Jose Joaquin Palma.
The same goes to Honduras whose national anthem titled ‘Tu bandera es un lampo de cielo’, goes: “Por guardar ese emblema divino, Marcharemos Oh! Patria a la muerte, Generosa será nuestra suerte, Si morimos pensando en tu amor. (To guard this sacred emblem, we shall march, oh fatherland, to our death; our death will be honored, if we die thinking of your love.) It was adopted in 1915. Carlos Harling composed the music, while Augusto Constancio Coello wrote the lyrics.
The Ecuadoren national anthem, on the other hand, also carries the same patriotic message. Titled ¡Salve, Oh Patria! (We Salute You, Our Homeland), part of its lyrics goes eerily: “Tierra de dichas, del sol y amores, En tu regazo dulce es vivir. Es una gloria para tus hijos, Cuando te ofenden, por ti morir. (Beautiful land of love, o land of light, in thine embrace ’tis rapture to lie, but it is glory ever, when thou art wronged, for us thy sons to suffer and die.) Adopted from the poem of Juan Leon Mera, the song was composed by Antonio Neumane and adopted in 1948.
Even the Uruguayan national anthem highlights death more emphatically: “Orientales la Patria o la Tumba! Libertad o con gloria morir! Orientales la Patria o la Tumba! Libertad o con gloria morir! Es el voto que el alma pronuncia,Y que heroicos sabremos cumplir! Es el voto que el alma pronuncia,Y que heroicos sabremos cumplir!
Roughly, the lyrics mean: “Orientals, the Fatherland or the grave, Liberty or with glory we die! Orientals, the Fatherland or the grave, liberty or with glory we die! It is the vow that the soul pronounces, and which, heroically we will fulfill! It is the vow that the soul pronounces, and which, heroically we will fulfill.”
The Paraguayan national anthem, meanwhile, has an eerie combination of Lupang Hinirang and the theme that resonates in Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios. It says: “Libertad y justicia defiende nuestra Patria; tiranos, ¡oíd! de sus fueros la carta sagrada su heroísmo sustenta en la lid.Contra el mundo, si el mundo se opone, Si intentare su prenda insultar, batallando vengar la sabremos o abrazo con ella expirar.”
Translated into English, it says: “Our Fatherland defends liberty and justice; So tyrants: listen! The laws in its sacred charter will sustain its heroism in the fight. Against the world, if the world opposes it, if the world dares to insult her security, battling to avenge we shall know her or die embracing her.”
Even Dr. Jose P. Rizal, in his Mi Ultimo Adios, talked about the same theme: “Adiós, queridos seres, morir es descansar.” (Farewell to all I love; to die is to rest.)
Interestingly, the first stanza of the Indonesian national anthem, written in Bahasa and aptly titled ‘Indonesia Raya,’ has the same theme as dying for one’s country: “Indonesia, tanah airku
Tanah tumpah darahku, Di sanalah aku berdiri, Jadi pandu ibuku.” (Indonesia, my homeland. The land where I have shed my blood. It is there I stand, to be my motherland’s guide.)
Patriotism, which is defined also as national pride, is defined emotionally as akind of ideology related to love and devotion of the homeland and, according to an online definition, is also “a sense of alliance with other citizens who share the same values,” which is “a combination of many different features relating to one’s own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects. It encompasses a set of concepts closely related to those of nationalism.”
In fine, that makes the Sotto proposal unnecessarily, at least for nonce.
