Lupang Hinirang - History

History

The Lupang Hinirang began as an instrumental march which Emilio Aguinaldo commissioned for use in the proclamation of Philippine independence from Spain. This task was given to Julián Felipe and was to replace a march which Aguinaldo did not find to be satisfactory. The title of the new march was Marcha Filipina Magdalo ("Magdalo Philippine March") and was later changed to Marcha Nacional Filipina ("Philippine National March") upon its adoption as the national anthem of the First Philippine Republic on 11 June 1898, a day before independence was to be proclaimed. It was played by the San Francisco de Malabon marching band during the proclamation on 12 June.

In August 1899, José Palma wrote the poem Filipinas in Spanish. The poem was published for the first time in the newspaper La Independencia on 3 September 1899. It was subsequently adopted as the lyrics to the anthem.

Philippine law requires that the anthem always be rendered in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julián Felipe, but the original holograph cannot be located. In the 1920s, the time signature was changed to 4/4 to facilitate its singing and the key was changed from the original C major to G.

After the repeal of the Flag Law (which banned the use of all Filipino national symbols) in 1919, the American colonial government decided to translate the hymn from Spanish to English. The first translation was written around that time by Paz Marquez Benitez of the University of the Philippines, who was also a famous poet during that time. The most popular translation, called the "Philippine Hymn", was written by Senator Camilo Osías and an American, Mary A. Lane. The "Philippine Hymn" was legalised by an Act of Congress in 1938.

Tagalog translations began appearing in the 1940s, with the first known one titled Diwa ng Bayan ("Spirit of the Country"), which was sung during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The second most popular one was O Sintang Lupa ("O Beloved Land") by Julian Cruz Balmaceda, Ildefonso Santos, and Francisco Caballo; this was adopted as the official version in 1948. Upon the adoption of Diwa ng Bayan, the song Awit sa Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas and the Japanese national anthem Kimigayo were replaced.

During the term of President Ramon Magsaysay, Education Secretary Gregorio Hernández formed a commission to revise the lyrics. On 26 May 1956, the Pilipino translation Lupang Hinirang was sung for the first time. Minor revisions were made in the 1960s, and it is this version by Felipe Padilla de León which presently used. The Filipino lyrics have been confirmed by Republic Act No. 8491 (the "Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines") in 1998, abandoning use of both the Spanish and English versions.

As historian Ambeth Ocampo has noted, some of the original meaning of the poem Filipinas has been lost in translation; for example, the original Hija del sol de oriente literally means "Daughter of the Orient (Eastern) Sun." It becomes "Child of the sun returning" in the Philippine Hymn and "Pearl of the Orient" in the present official version.