MANILA -- After her much-talked-about acceptance speech at the Billboard Philippines Women in Music awards night, fans of Regine Velasquez-Alcasid started an online petition and rally for he to be declared as a National Artist. 

Fans have been highlighting how Velasquez shaped and trailblazed the music industry with her body of work from the '90s up to the present, with the next generation of stars considering her as the gold standard in Filipino music.

During the surprise birthday party for her "Magandang Buhay" co-host Melai Cantiveros last Friday, ABS-CBN News caught up with Velasquez and asked for her thoughts on the National Artist petition. 

“Parang nahihiya ako. There are more artists who are more qualified. I don’t think I’m qualified yet,” she said.

Velasquez feels there are more qualified artists to be given that honort but is nonetheless grateful to her fans.

“I still have a long way to go. But thank you. I appreciate it very much for the people na nagpu-push. Pero huwag muna, kasi mas marami ang mas inisiip ko na dapat na nandun.”

(There are plenty other artists who are more worthy.)

“I want Pilita Corrales to be a National Artist. Jose Mari Chan. Hindi ko pa panahon ngayon. So huwag na muna. Meron pang mas qualified sa akin.”

(It's not yet my time. There are others who are more qualified than me.)

 She added: “Those are the people who should be in there, at sana malagay sila dun habang buhay pa sila para ma-enjoy nila.”

(Those are the people who should be in there, and hopefully they get the recognition while they are still alive so they can enjoy it.)

At 53, Velasquez is still doing big arena shows like her upcoming "Regine Rocks" concert at the Mall of Asia Arena on April 19. She promises the repeat show will have new elements in it. 

“Halos 50% of the repertoire is new. Naglagay na kami ng mga '90s alternative rock. Kasi yung first one, we concentrated on the rock talaga, quintessential rock talaga. Ngayon, naglagay na kami ng mga '90s alternative.”

(Almost 50% of the repertoire is new. We've also injected '90s alternative rock. Because the first one, we just concentrated on rock alone, quintessential rock. So, for now, we incorporated '90s alternative.)