‘Bayan Ko’ Stirs Filipino Pride

The series’ main author (standing, extreme left) joins participants/respondents in the EDSA ’86 Music Forum conducted by Manila Bulletin Research on Saturday, February 16, 2013. (Photo by Manny Llanes)

(Note: This is the part 3 of a multi-part story. To read part one, click here [1]. To read part two click here [2].)

“I’ve been always proud to be a Filipino.” 

Thus answered rebel-turned-government employee Agnes Lopes Reaño, when respondents were asked the second question – on the intensity of Filipino pride in them – after listening to “Bayan Ko” by Freddie Aguilar, “Magkaisa” by Virna Lisa, and “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo” by various original Pilipino music (OPM) artists in succession in the EDSA ’86 music forum conducted recently by Manila Bulletin Research.

Ironically, the former New People’s Army (NPA) member, who was also the first chairman of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in Bicol, does not believe in massive protest actions, like the EDSA Revolt, as solving even colossal problems besetting the nation.

“Kailanman hindi magiging tugon ang rebolusyon sa fundamental na problemang sosyal at politikal ng bayan! I have been there, pumatay na ako ng kapwa Pilipino. May nangyari ba sa bayan natin? Nung ako’y sumuko hindi ko hinanap ang pagbabago kahit kanino. Sinimulan ko sa sarili ko. Walang magbibigay ng solusyon sa buhay ng bawat isang Pilipino kundi ikaw mismo. Gusto mong umangat ang bayan natin? Gampanan mo ang pagka-Pilipino mo,” said Reaño. 

For Centre for International Education (CIE) owner Prof. Nelia Cruz Sarcol, those songs are what “shake her soul.”

“’Yung ‘Bayan Ko,” talagang kahit noon pa man, hindi pa ako ipinanganak, panahon pa ng magulang ko, talagang para bang sinulat ‘yung notang ‘yun para pukawin ang pag-ibig sa sariling bayan. Hindi pagmamahal kundi mas malalim pa sa pagmamahal na tinatawag nating pag-ibig. “’Yung ‘Magkaisa,” sa mga kantang ito nanginginig ang kaluluwa ko kapag naririnig ko…,” Sarcol said. “Bahagi ng ating kultura ang mga kantang ito na nagkukwento kung ano ‘yung pinaglaban natin na nagwagi tayo.” 

“Napakalaking pride, kasi sabi nga dun sa ‘Hando ng Pilipino sa Mundo,’ ‘pagbabagong mapayapa’ kasi napakarami ng bansa na nagbabago sila ng leaders, nagbabago sila sa kung ano mang paraan pero naghahasik ng kaguluhan, paglalaban,” said high school social studies master teacher Brenda Lee Cristobal. “Nung 1986, nung time na sinusugod na kami ng kanyon at tangke sa EDSA, tapos may mga baril na nakatutok, ang ipinarada lang namin sa harapan, eh, ‘yung mga pari at madre na may hawak na rosaryo. Nandoon ‘yung takot pero nung bumaba ‘yung nasa tangke at sumama yung iba, parang nanalo na kami, nagsigawan, nagpalakpakan.”

Jacqueline Balais Mira admitted she couldn’t move on from the insights shared by Reaño and Sarcol, but thinking about “Filipino pride,” she said, “Hindi ko ma-feel… kasi paulit-ulit lang naman, ‘di ba? Ganon at ganon din. Kung ano ‘yung ginawa noon sa mga Presidente, ganon pa rin eh. Nakakasawa.”

“Personally, hindi ko siya nararamdaman politically, parang more on the arts, doon lumalabas lahat. Proud ako artistically, kung ano ‘yung effect nitong EDSA sa lahat. Kasi ngayon, kanino na lang ba tayo nagiging proud? ‘Di ba kina Charice at Manny Pacquiao? Tapos nasasama tayo sa mga trivial na statistics, like Pilipinas ang number one emotional country, so okay, ‘yun lang? Sana, meron tayong something more concrete, more useful, long-term, positive na talagang maipagmamalaki natin, said freelance producer and University of the Philippines film graduate student Jed Medrano.   

“It’s very hard to talk about Filipino identity or Filipino pride nung narinig ko sila,” admitted Medrano’s classmate and friend David Corpuz, laughing. “As a ‘post-EDSA baby,’ I can describe my pride as a ‘textbook pride,’ in a way, dahil I think majority of students today are people who grew up after EDSA who only know about it through books. But what music can do to those who weren’t there amazes me. Ang daming lumabas na topics about Edsa and I really learned a lot.”

Customer service associate Ned Osabel had the same sentiment as that of Corpuz. “For the longest time, I focus mostly on myself and my family, pero alam ko na in my little way, I’m starting change from within myself. On a larger perspective, ngayon ko lang siya nare-realize we must be proud and fight for what we know is right for ourselves and for our country.”

“Nakadagdag po sa IQ ko. Marami po akong natutunan dahil sa mga kanta, mga nasabi at narinig ko sa mga taong nandito,” said Denzel Mira, the youngest respondent.

When asked which among the three EDSA Revolution songs they would love to listen to over and over again, seven of the 10 respondents chose Freddie Aguilar’s “Bayan Ko.”

“‘Bayan Ko’ is still being sung [today] and appreciated deeply by many Filipinos even many years after EDSA I [because] the same reality calls for it,” Doma pointed out. “The song shows that it’s not only about EDSA, or Marcos, especially if we would associate it directly with EDSA I. If you look closely, the songs associated with EDSA, especially ‘Bayan Ko,’ have meanings that have been there long before.”

He stressed that the patriotic song must not be meant for former President Ferdinand Marcos alone, as it connotes Filipinos’ struggles.

“We can associate the song at times when we look back at the time of Spaniards, the era of the Americans, and of the Japanese, because we were also crying for freedom. Why these days, ‘Bayan Ko’ still evokes a deep, important emotion, though it has been a long time since Marcos?” the sociology professor said.

Doma said that the promises of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution have yet to be fully realized.

“The song tells us that we [as Filipinos] have not been absolutely free from the chains of difficulties, which we analyzed and made action during EDSA I. That makes the song meaningful in the lives of Filipinos,” he added.

“Bayan Ko” is a classic kundiman song originally composed by National Artist for Music Jose Corazon de Jesus in 1928, which was set to music by Constancio de Guzman. During World War II, it was typically sung by Filipinos as a warning every time Japanese troops were approaching, especially for guerillas to seek shelter.

At the peak of the student activist movement of the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the protesters made it their anthem during their rallies. It was banned from the airwaves during Martial Law, and was not normally heard of, until the Ninoy Aquino assassination in 1983, with Freddie Aguilar popularizing the song.