Felipe worked on the assignment for six days and on June 11, sitting in front of a piano in the Aguinaldo living room, played his music before the presidente and his lieutenants. On June 5, 1898, he commissioned Julian Felipe, a Cavite pianist and composer, to work on a march for the revolutionists. Emilio Aguinaldo astutely recognized the need for national symbols to rally the nation against the enemy. And this need arose in 1898, when the revolution against Spain was in its second year and a Filipino victory was in sight. The Philippine National Anthem is a product of revolution, a response to the need of the revolutionary times that gave birth to it.
