Martial Law Anthem Rallies New Voters in 2022 Polls

Volume 3, Issue No. 18

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America and beyond . . . . . .

 

Our latest as of Wednesday, December 15, 2021 

~ We celebrate in songs our triumphs and disappointments, our loves and heartaches, the passage of time, the changing of the guards, etc. One song that harks back to moments of despair in the homeland now gets resurrected, finds new meaning, and is happily embraced by a new crop of Filipino voters. Obviously, times have significantly changed. The team of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Mayor Sara Duterte, the candidates for president and vice president, respectively, of the Philippines in the May 2022 elections, has repurposed a historic anthem, and it's attracting a huge following.

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MARTSA NG BAGONG LIPUNAN

Old Song Might Pave Way to BBM-Sara Win

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." - Kahlil Gibran

TORONTO - The song/march synonymous with the martial law rule of strongman Ferdinand Marcos is making a dramatic comeback, regurgitated from the vault, and over these past weeks, is pulling in masses of people to the election campaign of his namesake son, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and teammate Inday Sara Duterte.

Officially known as the March of the New Society or Martsa ng Bagong Lipunan, the hymn has found easy acceptance among the massive crowds that accompany the motorcades of the two scions of controversial political leaders campaigning for the presidency and vice presidency of the Philippines in the general elections on May 9, 2022.

Together they have formed the well-liked BBM-Sara tandem, which as of the latest independent survey, tops their opponents by a wide margin - Bongbong Marcos scoring 51.9 percent (his closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo has 20.2 percent), and Sara Duterte takes in 54.8 percent (her immediate challenger, Dr. Willie Ong, gets only 11.2 percent). (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/12/groundswell-of-support-for-bongbong-sara.html).

How the song came about two days after the imposition of martial law on September 21, 1972, does not seem to bother this batch of young voters belonging to the Generation X and Millennials demographics, for they appear to have a vague idea of those years of military rule, forced disappearances, repression, suspension of civil rights, and the shutdown of disobedient media.

The rapid outgrowth of the song attests to its newfound popularity. Some bands have jazzed it up, others rendered their own versions to the extent that there are now at least ten interpretations by vocalists, choral groups, instrumentalists, and rock bands. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVspXIU3pJU).

At the time I heard it in the BBM-Sara campaign days ago, the lyrics surprisingly struck a sympathetic and emotional chord than when they sounded and sung during the martial law years in the Philippines in the seventies and eighties. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3yBt0_0Ldw).

Back then I knew, everyone knew, it was a rallying cry to soften the image of the dictatorship and attract wide support for the regime. Marcos the strongman had wanted the world to know that his totalitarian rule was "a smiling martial law".

It was a hard sell, particularly for people who were thrown out of their jobs, like myself, upon the closure of newspapers and radio and television stations across the country. I couldn't imagine "a smiling martial law" when its effect on me was personally devastating. More painful than being forcibly laid off, I also lost a loved one, my wife.

Now, over four decades later in Toronto, I had goosebumps as I listened intently to the song, relishing the brilliant Tagalog word its writer - Levi Celerio, the composer, lyricist, and National Artist of the Philippines for Music and Literature - had put into the music of Felipe Padilla de Leon, the classical music composer, conductor, scholar, and also a National Artist of the Philippines.

It's the one and the same song/march actually. But the circumstances of it being pressed on voters' consciousness are not exactly alike.

There's the alluring promise of a new day, perhaps very much unlike the immediate past and present dispensation that had made solemn vows but never redeem them. In BBM-Sara, I see the fulfillment of long-held aspirations for the country. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdt5KqgLe8o).

This particular stanza touches me like no other for its symbolism and deep meaning: "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 literal translation by Wikipedia goes like this: "As the darkness ends/and as night goes away/The dawn celebrates as daybreak comes/Hope smiles down on us/on this glorious new day!" I believe I'm missing the feel and nuance of the original. The delicacy of Tagalog (or Pilipino language) is hard to find in English, thus the translation feels lifeless. The essence is gone.

Many video commenters, easily noticeable as the new voters in how they write and spell words and phrases, through the use of smartphones, express their admiration for the song that they attest brings pride and tears and a feeling of belonging.

For the boomer generation I belong in, the Martsa ng Bagong Lipunan was a superficial instrument to mask the excesses of Marcos's autocratic rule. It was mocked, if secretly for fear of being arrested and jailed.

Times have changed obviously. The song is now greeted for its powerful message to come together as one people, and not for poignant reminders of a tyrannical past. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).