FIRST ORDER OF THE DAY Students, teachers and parents at Tiongson Elementary School in Ligao City, Albay attend the school’s flag ceremony before classes start on Monday. — File photo from MICHAEL JAUCIAN
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s directive encouraging the recitation of “Bagong Pilipinas Hymn and Pledge” during weekly flag ceremonies is “reminiscent of the martial law period’s Bagong Lipunan propaganda,” a lawmaker said on Sunday.
House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro issued the statement after the Memorandum Circular No. 52 was uploaded on the Official Gazette earlier Sunday.
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The order was addressed to all national government agencies, state universities and colleges.
It was signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin last June 4.
“Is Pres. Marcos Jr. again imitating his dictator father and bringing back martial rule?” she asked.
“His order is reminiscent of Marcos Sr.’s directive then for people to sing praises to the Bagong Lipunan,” Castro said.
“It would be best for Pres. Marcos Jr. to rescind this self-serving and martial law remnant of a memorandum circular. It is yet another way to deodorize the Marcos name brand and revise history,” the lawmaker noticed.
“We should just stick with the Lupang Hinirang and Panatang Makabayan,” she suggested.
The directive aims “to further instill the principles of the Bagong Pilipinas brand of governance and leadership among Filipinos.”
Under the circular, Marcos likewise ordered the Presidential Communications Office to implement effective measures “to communicate and disseminate the Bagong Pilipinas Hymn and Pledge to all government offices and the public.”
Moreover, it also mandates all heads of national government agencies and offices to “ensure that the Bagong Pilipinas Hymn and Pledge are properly disseminated within their respective institutions and offices.”
Castro warned this order can be “an attempt to indoctrinate government personnel and the youth with the Marcos administration’s self-styled Bagong Pilipinas branding.”
“Sa halip na ganitong mga gimik ang ginagawa, dapat sana ay mas inilalaan ng administrasyong Marcos ang oras nito para pag-isipan at aksyunan, paano solusyunan ang mga problema ng mamamayan gaya ng pagtaas ng sahod, pagpapababa ng presyo ng mga bilihin, pagtulong sa mga driver at operator na huwag mawalan ng hanapbuhay, at paglikha ng mga kalidad at regular na trabaho sa bansa,” she lamented.
(Instead of using these gimmicks, the Marcos administration should have spent more time thinking and acting on how to solve the problems of the people, such as raising wages, lowering the price of goods, helping drivers and operators not to lose their jobs, and creating quality and regular jobs in the country.)