Much Ado About Nothing

So much have been said about Philippines boxing hero, Manny Pacquiao and his recent triumph at Las Vegas. But what intrigue me most is the farce happening back home. It was the supposed move by some congressman to file a "criminal" charge against the guy who sings the Philippine National Anthem, Martin Nievera, for his allegedly "wrong rendition" of Lupang Hinirang. Below is from BusinessMirror.com

“Martin Nievera may have sung the Philippine National Anthem as against what is stipulated for in RA 8491 which clearly states that the national anthem should be sang the way composer Julian Felipe had originally arranged it, in a foreign territory outside the jurisdiction of the Philippine laws,” Barzaga said.

“But his rendition was telecast all over the world including in our country. So I believe he may be liable for violation of RA 8491,” he added.

Section 50 of RA 8491 provides: “Any person or juridical entity which violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than five thousand pesos [P5,000] nor more than twenty thousand pesos [P20,000], or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court; Provided, that for any second and additional offenses, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed; Provided, further, that in case the violation is committed by a juridical person, its President or Chief Executive Officer shall be liable.”

“As a fellow Caviteňo of Julian Felipe, I am filing criminal charges against Mister Nievera which I believe would be at test case for this particular law. We have to set jurisprudence on this particular law. I will file the test case in the soonest possible time,” Barzaga said.

First thing first, I cannot understand why Team Pacquiao chose Nievera to sing the Philippine National Anthem who barely speaks fluent Tagalog and holds dual citizenship? Second, why nobody reminds Nievera that it was no business of him to perform his own rendition of PNA and he's not going to sing in a pop concert where he is most free to flaunt one's vocal prowess and thirdly, and perhaps the most logical one, why these congressman filed a protest instead against UK for British fans at MGM palace for their behavior by booing and beating their drums while the Philippine national anthem was being sung? They can boo or hoot Manny Pacquiao to all their hearts delight, I respect their opinion if they find something wrong with Manny, but they just can't boo, sirs, other national anthem while it is being sung just like what they did with ours in front of hundreds of millions of people who are watching around the world. Truly, there's so much ado about nothing.

Bow...