MANILA, Philippines — The entire nation is observing National Flag Days from May 28 to June 12, 2024, as the country gears up for the grand celebration of Philippine Independence Day on June 12.
National Flag Day used to be just a one-day affair, as Presidential Proclamation No. 374, issued on March 6, 1965, declared May 28 as National Flag Day to commemorate the date the Philippine flag was first unfurled after the Philippine Revolutionary Army defeated Spanish forces in Imus, Cavite, in 1898.
It, however, became a 16-day observance leading up to Philippine Independence Day, when Executive Order No. 79, issued on May 23, 1994, extended it from May 28 to June 12.
During this period, all Filipinos are encouraged to display the Philippine flag in offices, government agencies, schools, commercial establishments and even private homes. This is to show respect and reverence for the national flag, which symbolizes national sovereignty and embodies all of the country’s ideals, hopes and dreams.
Through history, and particularly during the revolutionary period when Filipinos were raising arms against its oppressors, the Philippines has used many flags. But its flag today is what Wikipedia describes as “a horizontal bicolor flag with equal bands of royal blue and crimson red, with a white, equilateral triangle 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 represents one of the country’s three main island groups—Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.”
The flag was designed by Emilio Aguinaldo and sewn by Doña Marcela Mariño Aguinaldo, her then five-year-old daughter Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herbosa Natividad. The latter was Dr. Jose 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.