Martin Nievera on Philippine National Anthem

Martin Nievera

Philippine concert King Martin Nievera is willing to apologize for the alleged wrong rendition of “Lupang Hinirang” during the May 2 (May 3 in the Philippines) fight of Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The crooner drew flak from the National Historical Institute (NHI) as well as the provincial board of Cebu for his upbeat rendition of the country’s national anthem. According to NHI, Nievera sand the first part of Lupang Hinirang too slow and he even belt out the last part of the national anthem. And there’s also a threat by a Congressman from Cavite to file criminal charges against him for violation of her Republic act 8491, the flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.

“I do apologize only to the people afraid of progress and change, of course, the law-makers and to whomever took offense to my interpretation of probably the most beautiful I’ve ever come across,” Nievera said in a text message.

He even figured out that since music is considered a “Universal language”, he would use the opportunity to get across the message of Filipino song to foreigners who didn’t understand the language.

“I could have just gone through the motions of singing it and getting it over, but no, I wanted to represent and communicate,” Nievera added.

Pacquiao himself said he did not regret choosing Nievera to sing the anthem. “Martin’s performance is okay and he sang it beautifully with soaring voice. Let’s leave it that way,” Pacquiao said.