March 31, 2022 – The Office of the Undersecretary for Administration (OUA) of the Department of Education (DepEd) condemns the use of Dakila Ka, Bayani Ka in a political video without prior permission from the song’s composer and performers. Said video is posted at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=654132682307732&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&ref=sharing

Dakila Ka, Bayani Ka [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4MiRXrVzh0], composed by Mr. Arnie Mendaros and arranged by Mr. Albert Tamayo, is a tribute song to COVID-19 frontliners who sacrificed their safety and bravely performed their duty amidst the public health crisis. It was a project spearheaded by Undersecretary Alain Pascua at the start of pandemic to rally behind and give support to all frontliners. Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones herself voluntarily participated in the recording of the song together with Martin Nievera, Michael V, Carol Banawa, TJ Monterde, Sassa Dagdag, and other artists.

While we respect the political choice of the medical personnel featured in the video, we are appalled that the people behind the production of the said video did not even practice due diligence in securing permission first from the artists who graciously lent their time and talent for the song.

We are also taking offense that a mellow song about heroism was used to forward political messages of one party when it is clearly meant for all COVID-19 responders, regardless of political affiliations.

The song itself emphasizes -“Anuman ang kulay nila, anuman ang paniniwala, nagkakaisa sa pagtulong sa kaligtasan ng iba.” – to recognize the setting aside of political colors and partisanship in their service to our people. That message and recognition was sadly and unfortunately bastardized by this political rendition.

We shall seek legal actions on this negligence from the erring production team as we remind the public to keep non-political materials away from the messy side of the election campaign season.

For the meantime, we urge the people behind the video to stop sharing and to take down their post before we even ask Facebook to remove it.

 

 

ALAIN PASCUA

Undersecretary for Administration