This Is Our Flag

The best way to know a country's story is by looking at its flag and its meaning. Below is an image of the Philippine flag:

The Philippine National Flag. Image from Wikipedia.

Did you know that our flag has links to other Asian countries and even as far as Cuba?

For starters, the eight-rayed sun symbolizes the first eight provinces (Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Laguna, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija) that revolted against the Spanish colonial government. The three five-pointed stars represent the three main island groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest of the three and that's where Metro Manila is located.

The white equilateral triangle stands for equality and fraternity. The blue stripe means peace, truth and justice while the red stripe represents the Filipino's patriotism and valor.

Our flag has changed its meaning through the years. The descriptions provided above are officially accepted.

There have been earlier interpretations of the flag particularly from Mariano Ponce, a Filipino patriot, who wrote in 1899:

The blue color of the sky, means our hope in a future prosperity, through progress; the red means the blood with which we bought our independence; the white represents peace which we wish for ours and foreign countries.

The sun represents the progress, and some times means that the Philippine nation belongs to Oriental family, like Japan, Korea, etc. who bear also one sun in their flags.

The three stars are the three great groups of islands composing the Archipelago, the Luzon group, the Bisayas group and the Mindanao group.

—from Mabini's Ghost by Ambeth Ocampo

So who is Mariano Ponce?

Guess who's Mariano Ponce? Image from the Center of Souteast Asian Studies Kyoto University site.

He's the guy wearing the kimono. The one who's seated is some fellow named Sun Yat-Sen, the father of Chinese nationalism :-) I'll share about how these gentlemen got together in a separate entry.

Going back to the flag, it has a special feature. If the red field is above the blue field, it means the Philippines is in a state of war. Obviously, we're at peace right now.

Our sun used to have a face. The mystical sun that has eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth is the same sun that appears on the flag of some South American republics. It was removed during Manuel L. Quezon's term as president of the Commonwealth government.

What's the connection between our flag and Cuba's?

The Cuban National Flag. Image from Wikipedia.

Cuba's fight for independence was an inspiration to Filipino revolutionaries. The Philippines and Cuba were Spanish colonies up to the later part of the 19th Century. It's great to know that nations have these links and I hope that relationships will be enriched further in the coming years.