It is the current hot topic following the “extraodinary” birthday party celebrated by National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major Gen. Debold Sinas and his colleagues.

The photos that were uploaded on the NCRPO PIO official Facebook page caused massive backlash against the involved officials.

Due to the images, netizens got to have brief glimpses at the party on the night of May 8, that consisted of at least 50 attendees who evidently consumed alcohol despite the liquor ban.

Philippine National Police Chief (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa believes otherwise. According to his official statement, a birthday party didn’t occur. “Walang party na nangyari. Ang sabi ni Gen. Sinas, probably nagkaroon ng mañanita. Pero dun sa mañanita ang sabi ni Gen. Sinas is that in-observe pa rin nila social distancing. Now, I don’t think na merong violation ito,” he said.

Sinas has since apologized for the viral photos and went on to clarify that those were “edited and grabbed from old photos”.

This drew more speculations from concerned citizens, mostly about the unfamiliar term, “mañanita”.

So what exactly is mañanita?

The history of mañanita stems back to Mexico and other Latin countries.

Translated as “early hours of the morning”, these natives practice a tradition where they perform las mañanitas, a birthday song in Mexico, during the wee hours of the night to wake up a birthday celebrant.

It can be described that this act is also Mexican’s version of doing our local salubong.

Another situation when a mañanita occurs is before eating the cake at the birthday party.

Moreover, some Latin countries also celebrate las mañanitas to commemorate the Our Lady of Guadalupe. It involves a pre-dawn parade, mass and town breakfast that can cater a large number of attendees.

Now, did that answer your question? Did a party ever happen on May 8? Tell us in the comments below!