WATCH: UP Diliman Plays Ominous Tune of "Bayan Ko" From Bell Tower

(SPOT.ph) The UP Carillon is one of the unique things you can find within the campus of the University of the Philippines – Diliman in Quezon City. If you don't have a watch, trust the bells to sound off every hour. But the state university's bell tower is more than that.

During the Diliman Commune—a week-long protest sparked by an oil price hike in 1971, it would play the famous labor anthem "L’Internationale" and was even used as an outpost for student activists to monitor suspicious activity from the military and the police. So it is only fitting that the bells played the popular patriotic song "Bayan Ko" to kick off the UP community's remembrance of one of the darkest periods in Philippine history—the signing of the declaration of Martial Law by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos on September 21. Gunita at Kampana, which started at 7:30 a.m., also condemns the rampant violation of human rights amid the Duterte administration's bloody war against drugs.

Bayan Ko played live at the UP Carillon.#NeverAgain #NeverForget #NoToMartialLaw pic.twitter.com/YbVNeQbczy

— UP Diliman USC (@USCUPDiliman) September 21, 2017

Found along Osmeña Avenue, the UP Carillon is said to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. The 130-foot tower inaugurated in 1952 originally consisted of 46 tuned bells that played the national anthem, the school hymn, and half an hour of inspiring music every 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. during Carlos P. Romulo's term as UP President. Due to age and neglect, it fell silent in the late '80s until it was restored and renovated with a new set of 36 Holland-made bells in 2007.

This isn't the first time that the Carillon played "Bayan Ko." After news broke that Marcos was to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18, 2016, the UP community heard a series of dark tones to protest this action carried out by the current administration. "Bayan Ko," which was deemed seditious and banned during Martial Law, was played every hour until 6 p.m. on the day of the "surprise burial."