ILOILO – Employees of the Iloilo provincial capitol were among the first to comply with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order for government offices and public schools to include the “Bagong Pilipinas” hymn and pledge during flag ceremonies.
During the regular flag-raising ceremony at the provincial capitol on Monday morning, June 10, employees, including Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. sang the hymn and recited the pledge.
According to Malacañang, doing so with regularity would instill the principles of the “Bagong Pilipinas” brand of governance and leadership among state personnel and employees.
“We are happy to have an addition to our flag ceremonies that aligns with the direction the administration wants for the country,” Defensor told Panay News.
He encouraged the 43 local government units in Iloilo Province to do the same as President Marcos strongly advocates for national unity.
Defensor sees the “Bagong Pilipinas” pledge and hymn as a counterpart to his development mantra “MoRProGRes Iloilo” (Movement for a Robust, Progressive, and Globally-competitive and Resilient Province of Iloilo), which sets the province’s direction toward achieving progress.
SUCs, TOO
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Region 6 was also among the first to integrate the “Bagong Pilipinas” pledge and hymn.
According to CHED-6 director Raul Alvarez Jr., they did it during their regular flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning, emphasizing that public sector employees are duty-bound to follow the directive.
Alvarez said they see no issue with the directive, as it promotes unity, which is the administration’s goal.
State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the region are mandated to follow the directive since they are public institutions run and funded by the government, he added.
“The order is effective immediately; we cannot ignore it because CHED also falls under the executive branch, and we are directly under the Office of the President. We are good soldiers and follow the mandate of the executive,” Alvarez told Panay News.
On the other hand, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Iloilo Provincial Director Carmelo Orbista said they have not yet received an official memorandum from their Central Office regarding the requirement for local government units (LGUs) to implement the directive immediately.
He emphasized the need for official communication from their Central Office before making any local-level decisions, particularly about mandating LGUs to comply with the order.
President Marcos issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 52 on June 4, a copy of which was released to the media on Sunday, June 9, directing “all national government agencies and instrumentalities, including GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) and educational institutions, such as SUCs (state universities and colleges),” and encouraging local government units (LGUs) “to integrate the recital of the Bagong Pilipinas Hymn and Pledge in the conduct of the weekly flag ceremonies, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations.”
The circular, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, takes effect “immediately” and contains a copy of the said hymn and pledge.
The Presidential Communications Office was asked to implement effective measures to communicate and disseminate the Bagong Pilipinas hymn and pledge to all government agencies and the public.
In his directive, Marcos invoked Republic Act No. 8491, or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, which required all government agencies and LGUs to conduct flag-raising rites on Mondays and flag-lowering on Fridays.
The law authorizes the Office of the President to issue rules and guidelines for the proper conduct of the flag ceremonies, the President added.
He also cited his Memo Circular 24, which launched his administration’s Bagong Pilipinas brand of governance and leadership and directed all agencies and instrumentalities, government-owned the controlled corporations and state universities and colleges, “to be guided by the Bagong Pilipinas principles.”
“Bagong Pilipinas is characterized by principled, accountable and dependable government, reinforced by unified institutions of society [and] envisioned to empower Filipinos to support and participate in all government efforts in an all-inclusive plan towards deep and fundamental social and economic transformation in all sectors of society and government,” the President said. (With a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)/PN
