Filipinos online are having a field day over Malacañang’s new memorandum requiring government agencies and schools across the country to recite the Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines) hymn and pledge, but do our country’s top leaders already, actually know them by heart?

On Independence Day, their knowledge of the song and pledge was – inadvertently – put to the test.

A recording of the song was played during the Independence Day rites at Rizal Park in Manila on Wednesday, June 12, attended by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, presidential son and Ilocos Norte Representative Sandro Marcos, and Cabinet officials under the present administration.

Camerawork from state media panned to Marcos, who was seen mouthing some of the song’s lyrics, but the same cannot could not be said of his Cabinet members, who didn’t bother trying.

Present during the flag-raising event were Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Mel Robles, Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum, Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Don Artes, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, and ICT Secretary Ivan Uy, among others.

After a recording of the song was played, a voiceover led the Bagong Pilipinas pledge. Marcos was seen reciting the verses, but not the rest of the First Family and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who kept their mouths closed. It was Bersamin who signed, on behalf of the President, Memorandum Circular No. 52, prescribing the recital of the hymn and pledge. It was issued by Malacañang on June 4, but made public only on Sunday, July 9.

Some of the Cabinet secretaries seem to already know the words, like Cacdac, Frasco, Bonoan, and Herbosa. Loyzaga and Solidum were seen reading from a piece of paper while raising their right hands.

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How about Vice President Sara Duterte? The country’s No. 2 didn’t get a chance to show off her memorization skills since she wasn’t present at the Rizal Park event on Wednesday morning. She instead marked 126 years of Philippine independence in Davao City, her hometown.

Local news reports say neither the hymn nor the pledge was recited during that event.

Critics have questioned the legality of the memorandum, which they say violates the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, because the Office of the President does not have the authority to add a hymn or pledge during flag ceremonies. (READ: [Just Saying] Reciting a hymn and pledge: Illegal, punitive, unconstitutional)

Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel even said that a new law is needed to compel the recital of the hymn and pledge in schools and government agencies.

Marcos Jr., who is known to occasionally evoke memories of his father in his speeches, appears to be taking a page out of the playbook of the dictator, who, during his bloody martial rule, required the singing in schools of Bagong Pagsilang (March of the New Society).

Based on Wednesday’s public event, the Philippines’ top leaders have yet to fully set an example – specifically, recite the verses, and sing the song. – Rappler.com