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The Philippine National Anthem:
Historical Notes
The Philippine National Anthem is a
product of revolution, a response to the need of the revolutionary times
that gave birth to it. And this need arose in 1898, when the revolution
against Spain was in its second year and a Filipino victory was in
sight.
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo astutely recognised
the need for national symbols to rally the nation against the enemy. On
June 5, 1898, he commissioned Julian Felipe, a Cavite pianist and
composer, to work on a mark for the revolutionists. Felipe worked on the
assignment for six days and on June 11, sitting in front of a piano in
the Aguinaldo living room room, played his music before the
presidente and his lieutenants. Named by Felipe the Marcha Filipino
Magdalo (after Aguinaldo's nom de guerre and his faction in the
Katipunan), the music was adopted on the spot and renamed the Marcha
Nacional Filipina (Philippine National March).
The national anthem was heard publicly
for the first time on June 12, 1898, when, standing on the balcony of
his Kawit mansion, Aguinaldo proclaimed Asia's first independent
republic before a cheering throng. Two rallying symbols were presented
to the infant nation that day. Also displayed for the first time was the
national flag, unfurled to the stirring strains of the marcha nacional
played by the band of Sand Francisco de Malabon (now Heneral Trias)
whose members had learned the music the day before.
But still without words, Felipe's music
was simply a march. It could not be sung. The need for lyrics was just
as great as there was for the music. In December 1898, the Philippines
was ceded by Spain to the United States of America in the Treaty of
Paris. Having thrown off Spanish rule, the Filipinos found themselves
under new colonial masters, the Americans. In February of 1899, the
Filipino-American War erupted.
The defiant lyrics to match the stirring
strains of Felipe were supplied by Jose Palma, a 23-year old soldier who
was as adept with the pen as he was with the sword. He wrote a poem
entitled "Filipinas" and this was wed to the Felipe composition. The
anthem was readily taken by the young nation at war. But on March 23,
1901, the war with America ground to a halt with the capture of
Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela.
The first half of the century were years
of humiliation for the Filipinos and their anthem. The American
administrators discouraged the singing of English and Tagalog
translations.
In 1956, a new version penned by the
Surian ng Wikang Pambansa (Institute of National Language) was adopted.
That version is now the current official Filipino lyrics sung all over
the country and given wider propagation through radio, television and
cinema. |
