Lara Maigue (Wikipedia)

Lara Maigue will sing the Philippine national anthem in the afternoon joint session on Monday, July 24 just before President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA).

This was confirmed in a message Friday, July 21 by House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.

Velasco, in an interview with reporters earlier this week, had said that the identity of the Lupang Hinirang singer would be a "big suprise". However, entertainment journalists brought up Maigue's name on Friday morning and identified the Filipino singer as the secret performer tapped for the SONA.

Maigue, 32, won the 2017 Aliw Awards for Best Classical Performer and the 2018 Aliw Awards for Best Female Crossover Performer, according to her Wikipedia profile.

"A classically-trained soprano, Lara's musical repertoire also consists of singing opera, Kundiman, jazz standards, broadway, OPM (Original Pilipino Music), as well as her own original compositions," it read.

"Since 2010, Lara has promoted Filipino music in different parts of the world with solo cultural concerts in Florence, Italy; Canberra and Sydney, Australia; Singapore and New Delhi, India," it further stated.

Velasco had earlier said that this year's SONA would carry a "Filipiniana" or "native" theme.

The joint session will take place at the plenary hall of the House of Representatives.