Wronged, to the end

Felix M. Garcia. Poeta Laureado. 30 Enero 1938 - 31 Octubre 2025. 

HIS FINAL verse metered and rhymed,

Calliope – poetry’s muse most divine –

Unto Felix the golden laurel crowned.

Alas, unto death poet laureate Felix M. Garcia remained dispossessed of recognition of one major work of his lifetime. Here’s that story published here on March 21, 2019.

Intellectual property wronged

“JUSTICE TO Mr. Garcia was already delayed. I hope it will not be denied this time.”

So prayed Jose Irwin M. Nucum, a committee deputy chair of the Multi-Sectoral Governance Council of the City of San Fernando, in a letter – dated Dec. 8, 2010 – to the city council on the “Subject: Recognition of Poeta Laureado Felix M. Garcia as the true lyricist of the Himno Fernandino.”

Addressed directly to then Vice Mayor Edwin T. Santiago, Nucum, himself a composer – both lyrics and music – of a number of hymns and anthems, wrote that he took it as “supreme responsibility” that Garcia be accorded that recognition that is rightfully his as “true lyricist” of the city hymn.

It was on Feb. 5, 1997 that the then sangguniang bayan – San Fernando was yet to be a city – passed Resolution No. 97- 004 adopting the Himno Fernandino as the official hymn, and recognizing Geronimo F. Del Rosario, Jr. as the composer.

No, there was absolutely no question of the authenticity of Del Rosario as composer of the himno. The problem – epic at that – was that Garcia was deprived the credit, aye, his very share of his intellectual proprietary right to the himno as its lyricist.

Garcia has all the proofs of having written the himno’s lyrics, duly subscribed to by other Capampangan poetas laureados, notably the much-prized Jaspe Dula.

But self-effacing as he is, Tatang Felix – as I address him, with as much awe and respect for his brilliance in the amanung sisuan – let all these injustices to his person thrived in his silence.

Content with but one letter he sent on Feb. 14, 2011 to then-Councilor Jimmy Lazatin, addressed as the “hearing officer” on the “Conflict of Claims between Felix M. Garcia and Geronimo F. Del Rosario over an issue on who really wrote the lyrics of Himno Fernandino.”

The letter detailed the whats, hows, whys and wherefores that led to the crafting of the himno and the controversy that arose from it, closing: Nung dekayanan ne agyang kapurit mu mang rekognisyun ing akasaup na, a miras marahil king punting yan. (E ku buring sabyan ing makasarili ya y pareng Norming. Pero pagmulalan ku mu nung bakit selikut na ing tutu. Kumpara keng metung a basung danum, e na ku inugsyanan agyang kapatak mu bista’t kayabe na kung mepagal kaniti…

E sukat maging dalan iti ban pikamuan da ku at misimpan sakit a lub ampon paginakit kanaku ri Mr. Del Rosario at ding pamilya na uling e ku kasalanan nung bakit mipakanyan. Atyu keya bilang kompositor (ning musika) ing kakulangan nung bakit e na binye ing karampatan a pamangilala king lyricist.

Whatever hearing the sanggunian bayan of San Fernando held on the “conflict” appears to have gone nowhere in resolving it.

It has been over eight years since the controversy came to fore. Then Vice Mayor Edwin Santiago is now contesting the last of three terms as mayor. The hearing officer, then Councilor Jimmy Lazatin is already twice reelecting as vice mayor.

And, as Nucum wrote, “Garcia is left in oblivion.” 

                                                 Felix and Irwin 

At every singing of the Himno Fernandino, a great injustice is done to its unrecognized “true lyricist.”

How can a city government that prides itself as champion of culture and the arts, indeed, that arrogates unto itself “lahi cang marangal… dayang pantas… tune uliran, sandigan at duyan king kalayan” can even tolerate such monumental wrong? Could sweep it under the rug of haughty indifference?

“To recognize Mr. Garcia is like completing the puzzle and will not in any way lessen Mr. Del Rosarios role and contribution in the composition of the hymn.” So, Nucum wrote succinctly.

And spot-on: “The fulfilment of a writer or any artist lies in the appreciation and acknowledgement of his obra. No pecuniary consideration can ever replace that feeling of being appreciated and recognized – especially for having written the lyrics of this hymn of every Fernandino.”

Is that too much to ask of the local government of San Fernando?