Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier proposed to change the closing lines of the Philippine national anthem during the plenary debates on Tuesday.
The senator says the last line of the song "Aming ligaya na pag may nang-aapi, ang mamatay ng dahil sayo" should be changed to "ang ipaglaban ang kalayaan mo."
However, people who are opposed to the idea called out the senator. They said, there are more pressing issues than the national anthem.
The lawmaker responded to his critics on Twitter and clarified he will not insist to change the lyrics.
The Philippine national anthem was composed by Julian Felipe in 1898. The composer's musical arrangement and composition was officially adopted in 1983. The lyrics were adopted from a Spanish poem and were translated into Filipino in the 1940s. The current version was first sung on May 1956.
Follow SBS Filipino on Facebook
