The National Historical Commission of the Philippines on Tuesday, April 28, expressed concern over a viral short-form video showing partygoers singing the Philippine National Anthem in a loud and rowdy manner during what appeared to be an outdoor rave.
The video circulated over the weekend also showed a remix version of “Lupang Hinirang,” drawing criticisms online.
“Hindi namatay ang mga bayani para sa ganto. Have some decency and pride on what they fought for,” a Threads user wrote.
“Kailan pa naging ‘party song’ ang National anthem???” Klasik Titos and Titas of Manila’s page asked.
“My issue is not that the National Anthem was remixed. Rather, itโs that it was treated as entertainment when it shouldnโt be.
“But to everyone saying this should be reported, etc.: RA8491 is a poorly written law and Section 37 (where it says we have to play it the way Juliรกn Felipe composed it) should be repealed.
A National Anthem dance remix can be made reverent. The State has no business dictating to us how we should show our patriotism,” the Threads user added.
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Following the circulation of the video, the NHCP said it had received numerous complaints over the weekend, noting that the video may have been taken in the United States around December 2025.
The agency, however, said it is constrained from taking legal action.
“Considering that Philippine domestic laws cannot be applied extraterritorially, we are technically constrained from taking appropriate legal action on the incident,” the NHCP said.
It reminded overseas Filipinos that national symbols are protected under Republic Act No. 8491, or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, which requires that the anthem be performed according to its official arrangement and not for entertainment purposes.
“Sections 37 and 38 of RA 8491 in particular states that the National Anthem (1) ‘๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฆ” and (2) “๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด,'” it wrote.
The commission added that while expressions of patriotism may be well-intentioned, these must be exercised โwith discretion and circumspection,โ and in line with existing laws and cultural sensitivity.
โWith Rosette Adel and John Marwin Elao
