All those diatribes against the NHI aside, I personally think ampangit naman talaga ng version ni Arnel Pineda. Medyo sumabit pa siya nung bumirit siya in the end.

Alam naman ng mga singers na to na they're opening themselves up to criticism kung babaguhin nila yung rendition. They know fully well na may batas on how it's supposed to be sung. The excuse of "artistic liberty" doesn't fly with me. More like gusto lang nilang i-showcase (read: ipagyabang) yung talent nila. Di na sila natuto. So they should take heed, especially when an institute like the NHI (apolitical and not a publicity-whore) speaks out.

Look at the singer who sung the national anthem of Ghana. She sang it simply, hindi maarte. Kahit hindi ako pamilyar sa national anthem nila, I'm pretty sure na hindi niya nilandian yung version niya. To Arnel's credit though, he apologized.