PHILIPPINE FLAGS

The current Philippine National Flag evolved out of many earlier versions. But all of them traced their origin from the common endeavors of the Philippine revolutionaries to show their love for the country. The first Philippine flag was the war banner adopted by Andres Bonifacio in 1892. It was a rectangular piece of red cloth, with three white K's arranged to form three angles of an equilateral triangle.

Several months before the outbreak of the revolution in 1896, Bonifacio had another flag made. This flag consisted of a red rectangular field, with a white-rayed sun in the middle and three white K's below it. This served as the Katipunan standard.

In October 1896, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo fashioned out a banner consisting of a rectangular field, with a white sun in the middle. The sun had eight rays - representing the first eight provinces (Manila, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Batangas,and Cavite) to take up arms against the Spaniards. In the middle of the white sun was a white K, in the ancient Tagalog script.

On March 17, 1897 Aguinaldo displayed a new banner at the Naic Assembly. This was a rectangular red cloth, with a white mythological sun in the middle adorned with eyes, nose, and mouth. Radiating from the sun were eight group of rays, each group consisting of three rays. This flag was used in the Truce of Biak-na-Bato, on December 14-15, 1897.

During Aguinaldo's exile in Hongkong, He requested Mrs. Marcela Agoncillo to make a new flag. Assisted by her eldest daughter Lorenza and Miss Delfina Herbosa ( Rizal's niece ). Mrs. Agoncillo sewed the banner that later became the Philippine National Flag. This flag is made of two stripes - one red, the other blue - and a white stripe to the left of the flag area. The upper stripe is blue and the lower stripe is red. Inside the white triangle is a central sun with eight rays. In each angle of the triangle is a five-pointed star.

The sun symbolizes liberty; the eight rays represent the first eight provinces that fought Spain. The three stars represent the three major islands of Luzon, Visayas,and Mindanao.

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