Philippine National Flag

June 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the Republic of the Philippines, proclaimed the Independence of the Philippines in the presence of the public at Cavite el Viejo (Kawit) from the colonization of the Spaniards for three hundred and thirty-three years. Marcela Agoncillo made the flag of the Philippines following the design of General Aguinaldo. Together with Lorenza Agoncillo, daughter of Marcela, and Delfina Herboza Natividad, niece of Jose Rizal sewed the flag in Hong Kong.

Three hundred and thirty years is long enough for our fellow Filipinos to suffer. There were oceans of blood surged during the colonization. This is why Filipinos were crying for justice, peace, and most of all independence. The first eight provinces of Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Manila, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Tarlac sought independence from Spain and were placed under martial law by the Spaniards

Red, blue, yellow and white...

A flag, as we notice, is just a thin cloth. Blue, red, white and yellow are the colors we commonly see in our national flag. It is not just an ordinary piece of cloth, it contains many faces and symbols. It possesses the bad memories, agonies, and sacrifices of our ancestors. They experienced apostasies and immoralities from the colonizers up to the extent of sacrificing their own lives. They shed their tears and blood in order for us to attain our independence, to live in our country neglecting the mistreatment of the invaders, to govern our own country without any manipulation from cruel trespassers.

Each part of the Philippine flag has a specific meaning. Each is representing a unique description of the Filipino character.

The red field represent the Filipinos' undying courage and perseverance in the time of the revolution - still it holds nowadays. When there is a war, the red shade is placed on top of the blue shade. The blue field stands for common unity and the noble desires of the Filipino people. The blue carries an allegorical meaning that all the Filipinos will prefer to die before submitting themselves to the invader. The white field stands for purity. The white triangle with equal sides of the flag is symbolic of equality among men. The three five pointed stars indicate the solidarity of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and including all the islets and rocks that falls under its area of responsibility. The eight rays of the sun stand for the eight provinces of Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas and Cavite that crying for the independence from the apostasy of the colonizers.

The flag symbolizes freedom and patriotism, and nothing comes close in reminding nationalistic sentiments than seeing our flag flying high together with flags of other nations in international gatherings, such as in politics, when our president visits other countries or even other politicians that