Flag of the Philippines


The national flag of the Philippines is a horizontal bicolor flag with equal bands of royal blue and crimson red, with a white, equilateral chevron at the hoist. In the center of the triangle is a golden-yellow sun with eight primary rays, to represent the original eight provinces that rebelled against the Spanish during the 1896 Philippine Revolution. At each vertex of the triangle is a five-pointed, golden-yellow star, each of which representing one of the country's three main island groups—Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The white triangle at the hoist represents liberty, equality, and fraternity. A unique feature of this flag is its usage to indicate a state of war if it is displayed with the red side on top, which is effectively achieved by flipping the flag upside-down.

Design

Construction

The flag's length is twice its width, giving it an aspect ratio of 1:2. The length of all the sides of the white triangle are equal to the width of the flag. Each star is oriented in such manner that one of its tips points towards the vertex at which it is located. Moreover, the gap-angle between two neighbors of the 8 ray-bundles is as large as the angle of one ray-bundle, with each major ray having double the thickness of its two minor rays. The golden sun is not exactly in the center of the triangle but shifted slightly to the right.

Color

The shade of blue used in the flag has varied over time, beginning with the original color described as azul oscuro. The exact nature of this shade is debated, but a likely candidate is the blue on the Cuban flag, which a theory says influenced the Philippine flag's design. The colors of the flag were first standardized by President Ramón Magsaysay, upon the recommendation of the Philippine Historical Committee dated January 24, 1955. Specifically, the colors adopted were Old Glory Red, National Flag Blue, Spanish Yellow, and White by the Reference Guide of the Textile Color Card Association of the United States. In 1985, President Ferdinand E. Marcos through Executive Order No. 1010, s. 1985 instructed the National Historical Institute "to take the necessary steps to restore the original color of the First Philippine Flag". In late May, the NHI adopted Oriental Blue for the new national flag, but this was later rescinded by President Corazon C. Aquino after the 1986 People Power Revolution that removed him from power in favor of pre-1985 National Flag Blue. For the 1998 centennial celebration of Philippine independence, the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines was passed, designating Royal Blue as the official variant to be used from 1998 to present.
The flag's colors are specified and codified under Republic Act 8491, s. 1998 signed on February 12, 1998, in terms of their cable number in the system developed by the Color Association of the United States. The official colors and their approximations in other color spaces are listed below:
SchemeBlueCrimson redWhiteGold
Scheme
Cable No.80173801088000180068
Pantone286C193C122C
RGB0–56–168206–17–38255–255–255252–209–22
CMYKC99-M80-Y0-K0C12-M100-Y87-K3C0-M0-Y0-K0C2-M17-Y91-K0
HEX#0038A8#CE1126#FFFFFF#FCD116

Symbolism

In the late 19th century, both Manila and Iloilo, the archipelago's largest ports, each had maritime flags used for navigation in the Philippine seas. Both maritime flags were swallowtail flags with red and blue stripes, respectively, which were later adopted in the Philippine flag. The Philippine national flag has a rectangular design that consists of a white equilateral triangle, symbolizing liberty, equality and fraternity; a horizontal blue stripe for peace, truth, and justice; and a horizontal red stripe for patriotism and valor. In the center of the white triangle is an eight-rayed golden sun symbolizing unity, freedom, people's democracy, and sovereignty. Each ray represents a province or district with significant involvement in the 1896 Philippine Revolution against Spain; these are the provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija and the district of Morong. However, according to the Declaration of Independence and a research by Ateneo de Manila University Professor Ambeth Ocampo, the rays of the sun symbolized the first eight provinces of the Philippines which was declared under martial law during the Philippine Revolution. Three five-pointed stars, one at each of the triangle's points, stand for the three major island groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The flag's original symbolism is enumerated in the text of the independence proclamation, which makes reference to an attached drawing, though no record of the drawing has surfaced. The proclamation explains the flag as follows:
The symbolism given in the 1898 Proclamation of Philippine Independence differs from the current official explanation. According to the document, the white triangle signifies the emblem of the Katipunan, the secret society that opposed Spanish rule. It says the flag's colors commemorate the flag of the United States as a manifestation of gratitude for American aid against the Spanish during the Philippine Revolution. It also says that one of the three stars represents the island of Panay, which recent historical interpretations say was "representative of the entire Visayas region".

History

Historical flags of the Philippine Revolution

It has been common since the 1960s to trace the development of the Philippine flag to the various war standards of the individual leaders of the Katipunan, a pseudo-masonic revolutionary movement that opposed Spanish rule in the Philippines and led the Philippine Revolution. However, while some symbols common to the Katipunan flags would be adopted into the iconography of the Revolution, it is inconclusive whether these war standards can be considered precursors to the present Philippine flag.
The first flag of the Katipunan was a red rectangular flag with a horizontal alignment of three white Ks. The flag's red field symbolized blood, as members of the Katipunan signed their membership papers in their own blood.
The various leaders of the Katipunan, such as Andrés Bonifacio, Mariano Llanera, and Pío del Pilar, also had individual war standards.

Current flag

The Philippine national flag was designed by Emilio Aguinaldo. It was sewn by Doña Marcela Mariño Agoncillo, her five-year-old daughter Lorenza Mariño Agoncillo, and Mrs. Delfina Herbosa Natividad, Dr. José Rizal's niece by his sister Lucia. It was first displayed in the Battle of Alapan on May 28, 1898, after the Spaniards were defeated and surrendered to Aguinaldo. A Manila Times article by Augusto de Viana, Chief History Researcher, National Historical Institute, mentions assertions in history textbooks and commemorative rites that the flag was first raised in Alapan, Imus, Cavite, on May 28, 1898, citing Presidential Proclamation No. 374, issued by President Diosdado Macapagal on March 6, 1965. The article goes on to claim that historical records indicate that the first display of the Philippine flag took place in Cavite City, when General Aguinaldo displayed it during the first fight of the Philippine Revolution.
The flag was formally unfurled during the proclamation of independence on June 12, 1898, in Aguinaldo's Residence at Kawit, Cavite.
The original design of the flag adopted a mythical sun with a face influenced by The Republics of the Rio de la Plata, Argentina and Uruguay, which in turn represent Inti the Incan Sun-god; a triangle, representing the Katipunan which inspired by the Eye of Providence in the Great Seal of the United States and the Masonic Triangle and which enshrined Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité of the French Revolution; the stripes and colors derived from the American flag. The particular shade of blue of the original flag has been a source of controversy. Based on anecdotal evidence and the few surviving flags from the era, historians argue that the colors of the original flag was influenced by the flags of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
During the session of the Malolos Congress, Aguinaldo presented the symbolism of the official flag to the members, delegates and representatives of the assembly as follows:
The original flag that was first hoisted on May 28, 1898, and unfurled during the Declaration of independence on June 12, 1898, is believed to being preserved at the Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Museum in Baguio. There were plans to restore the flag by replacing the worn-out portion but the idea was abandoned because matching threads could not be found. The flag is more elaborate than the flag which is currently in use. It bears the embroidered words, Libertad, Justicia and Igualdad on one side of the flag and Fuerzas Expedicionarias del Norte de Luzon on the other. In a 2012 essay, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines acknowledged that the flag kept in Baguio as authentic and a contemporary of the original flag. However, the essay concluded that it could not be one being unfurled during the independence declaration in Kawit because it is made of mix silk and cotton farbic. According to Agoncillo's statement in Philippine Herald in 1929, the flag she had sewn was made in fine silk.
Hostilities broke out between the Philippines and the United States in 1899. The flag was first flown with the red field up on February 4, 1899, to show that a state of war existed. Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans two years later, and swore allegiance to the United States.
With the defeat of the Philippine Republic, the Philippines was placed under American occupation and the display of the Philippine flag and other flags and banners associated with the Katipunan were declared illegal by the Flag Act of 1907. This law was repealed on October 24, 1919. With the legalization of display of the Philippine flag, the cloth available in most stores was the red and blue of the flag of the United States, so the flag from 1919 onwards adopted the "National Flag blue" color. On March 26, 1920, the Philippine Legislature passed Act. No 2928 on March 26, 1920, which legally adopted the Philippine flag as the official flag of the Philippine Islands. Up until the eve of World War II, Flag Day was celebrated on annually on October 30, commemorating the date the ban on the flag was lifted.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was inaugurated in 1935. On March 25, 1936, President Manuel L. Quezon issued Executive Order No. 23 which provided for the technical description and specifications of the flag. Among the provisions of the order was the definition of the triangle at the hoist as an equilateral triangle, the definition of the aspect ratio at 1:2, the precise angles of the stars, the geometric and aesthetic design of the sun, and the formal elimination of the mythical face on the sun. The exact shades of colors, however, were not precisely defined. These specifications have remained unchanged and in effect to the present. In 1941, Flag Day was officially moved to June 12, commemorating the date that Philippine independence was proclaimed in 1898.
The flag was once again banned with the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines beginning in December 1941, to be hoisted again with the establishment of the Second Republic of the Philippines, a puppet state of Japan. In ceremonies held in October 1943, Emilio Aguinaldo hoisted the flag with the original Cuban blue and red colors restored. The flag was initially flown with the blue stripe up, until President José P. Laurel proclaimed the existence of a state of war with the Allied Powers in 1944. The Commonwealth government-in-exile in Washington, D.C. continued to use the flag with the American colors, and had flown it with the red stripe up since the initial invasion of the Japanese. With the combined forces of the Filipino and American soldiers and the liberation of the Philippines in 1944 to 1945, the flag with the American colors was restored, and it was this flag that was hoisted upon the granting of Philippine independence from the United States on July 4, 1946.