Filipino Legislature Passes Bill: Sing National Anthem With Enthusiasm or Face Prison
With that new law in mind, I hope you will join me in starting a GoFundMe page, so we can raise enough to send Colin Kaepernick to manila on an all expense paid vacation. Let him take a knee in a country that shoots drug dealers down in the streets. It would be a great lesson in why the United States is the greatest country on the face of the Earth.
Filipinos would be required to sing the national anthem when it is played in public — and to do so with enthusiasm — under a bill that the House of Representatives of the Philippines approved on Monday.
If the bill, which will be considered by the Senate, is approved and signed into law, a failure to sing the anthem, “Lupang Hinirang,” with sufficient energy would be punishable by up to year in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 pesos, or about $1,000 to $2,000. A second offense would include both a fine and prison time, and violators would be penalized by “public censure” in a newspaper.
“The singing shall be mandatory and must be done with fervor,” the bill states.
The law would also mandate the tempo of any public performance of the anthem — it must fall between 100 and 120 beats per minute. Schools would be required to ensure all students have memorized the song.
The Supreme Court in India ruled in November that movie theaters would be required to play the national anthem before screenings, and that moviegoers would be required to stand. Nineteen people were arrested in December after failing to stand in two separate incidents, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The court specified in February it was unnecessary to stand if the anthem was played as part of a film, an issue that arose after reports that people were assaulted for not rising, according to The Times of India.
In Thailand, the anthem is played at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day on loudspeakers in places like schools, offices buildings, parks and train stations. People are expected to stand still and be silent.
