It must be a penchant for politicians in the Arroyo presidency to think that changing our national symbols is as easy as renaming streets. Senator Dick Gordon, the principal author of the bill to amend the Flag and Heraldic Code is close to getting his pet bill passed. It is now in the bicam committee of Congress and it seems that the bill has been ironed out. Among the significant provisions of the bill is adding a ninth ray to the Sun in our Flag. The ninth ray is supposed to represent Muslim Filipinos in their struggle for independence against colonial rule.
Now Manolo Quezon has in the past proposed amending the said bill to make it more consistent in its application and to make our heraldic code in line with heraldic tradition. While Manolo has issues on the blue field of the Flag, he wouldn’t go as far as adding a ray to the Sun.
Gordon’s bill reflects historical revisionism for political “pogi points”. The Flag is one of two relatively unchanged (if we discount the “what color of blue is right?” question.) legacies of the Philippine Revolution that exist to the present. The other one is the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) (the second largest non-Catholic church in the country) of which Agoncillo honored as the “only living tangible result of the Revolution” The IFI has the Flag in its coat of arms and episcopal heraldry.
While the IFI is vitually ignored in our neo-colonial psyche, the flag isn’t. The flag remains as the only focus of nationalist aspirations. The symbols of the flag are well known to schoolkids. The color scheme was selected in honor of the Great North American Republic, blue for nobility and red for courage, the Sun represents liberty and links the flag to the independence struggles of Latin American countries, the equilateral triangle has Deist and Masonic origins and represents the Katipunan and equality, the rays represent the first 8 provinces that rose in the Katipunan revolt and the three stars represent the major geographic divisions of the country. The flag is unique in thr world that if flown with the red field on the hoist, it symbolizes a state of war. President Manuel Quezon codified these meanings in an executive order.
In short, the flag is all about the revolution of which the Katipunan initiated and gave rise to the Republic we have now. Gordon is right to pay homage to Muslim resistance to colonial rule but they did not join the Katipunan. Cesar Majul’s “Muslims in the Philippines” cites the letters sent by the Aguinaldo government to the sultans asking them to join in the revolution but while the sultans recognized the common struggle for independence, they could not join it. They viewed the Christian Filipinos as colonial proxies for subjugating Islam in the Philippines. The American, Commonwealth and post 1946 independent Philippines sadly confirmed this as true.
With Muslim Filipinos choosing not to be part of the Katipunan led revolution, should they be honored with an additional ray? This I believe depreciates and trivializes the nature of their struggle against colonialism. If Filipinos want to honor their struggle, the Christian majority should say their mea culpas and recognize and value their Islamic identity in all aspects. They should not be surprised when Eid al Fitr is celebrated. Christian and Muslim Filipinos should accept that the Mindanao Star in the flag recognizes that the First Philippine Republic wanted a united Philippines that includes Muslim Mindanao. That is the ideal that we Filipinos haven’t reached. Gordon should leave it at that.
As Philippine society becomes more mobile, Muslims are found in all regions of the country. By and large Christian and Muslim communities exist peacefully side by side. Mosques are found in Luzon, Visayas and of course in Mindanao and Sulu. Many are in close proximity to Christian churches.
Of course the Flag can be changed by law. What riles me as a citizen (whose great great grandparents, grandparents and granduncles died for the Flag) is that these amendments proposed without consulting the Filipino people. Gordon should submit his bill to a referendum if he wants to change the Flag. Not a few Muslims died for the same Flag in World War II. They died for that Mindanao Star too. My Aglipayan and Roman Catholic granduncles were executed by the Japanese in Intramuros for the Flag and the Luzon Star. As Rizal wrote
“Lo mismo es si lo piden la patria y el hogar”
Filipinos should warn Gordon that changing the Flag may shoot down for good any Presidential ambitions he may have in the future! The majority of Pinoys will be opposed. Gordon hasn’t gotten the message that another national symbol (though much changed from the Spanish original) when changed in singing style and tempo, gets Filipinos into ballistic mode!
Popularity: 4% [?]
The flag as displayed in the Plenary Hall of the House of Representatives with the red to the right of the observer (which is a mistake) only reflects what Sen. Gordon is also trying to accomplish in the proposed bill.
In both cases, Senate as so the House of Representatives – have nothing more to add but grand historical mistakes.
I just don’t know how soon indeed, officials of the House of Representatives will correct how the flag is being hang at the Plenary Hall.
It is a cause of public shame that Speaker Nograles himself does not apparently know its proper and prescribed placement.
Would a trek back to Kinder help? If the 8 rays stand for provinces, the ninth should also be a province. Otherwise, there should be another symbol. One symbol for one thing; another for a different one. So said my teacher.
She further taught us that the rays were placed to honor the first 8 provinces that revolted against Spain. She assured us that other provinces followed suit but that is another story.
“Did the Muslims also fight for independence?” I asked. She looked at me as though she couldn’t believe I could be that stupid, but she answered anyway. “No, of course they didn’t. Why would they? They were never subdued!”
I soon forgot that incredulous look. I was more interested in the lollipop held by the girl seated beside me. Anyway that was Kinder, not the Senate.
I had to do a double take:
“How to Display the Flag
• For household and office display, the flag must be displayed vertically, with the triangle on top. The blue field should be to the right (left of observer) and the red field to the left(right of the observer).
• The flag should never be displayed horizontally except in flagpoles or hung fastened by its fly. The fly portion should always be free to move.
• When flown from a flagpole, the flag should have its blue stripe on top in times of peace, and the red on top in times of war.
• When displayed in the middle of the street, as between buildings or posts, the flag should be suspended vertically with the blue stripe pointing to north or east.
• When a number of flags are grouped and displayed from stationary staffs, the Philippine flag should be in the center at the highest point, or at the right of the other flags. Also, it must always be in the peak, and not smaller than the other flags of pennants or organizations.
• When displayed with another flag from crossed staffs, the Philippine flag should be on its right side, the left side of the observer. Its staff should be over the staff of the other flag. Two Philippine flags should never be displayed crossed staff.
• When used on a speaker’s platform without the staff, it should hang vertically and placed above and behind the speaker. It should never be used to cover the speaker’s desk, or be draped over the front of the platform.
• When mounted on a platform, the flag should be placed on the presiding officers’ right and a bit in front, as they face the congregation. Other flags should be on their left. However, when it is displayed on a level with the congregation, the flag is placed on the right of the congregation.
• Tattered, faded of worn-out flags should be replaced immediately. They should be disposed off or destroyed privately, preferably by burning.
• There are prohibitions on the use of the flag. The flag should not be used as part of, or as an entire costume. It should not be displayed in cockpits, dance halls, and centers of vice. It should not be used as unveiling material in unveiling ceremonies.
• Also, the flag should not be used as a curtain or a drape, although buntings of blue, white and red can be used. The blue color in the bunting should be at the top, or at the point of honor, and must be equal in width to the other colors.
• The manufacture, sale, and purchase of all flags for government use and public displayed are regulated by Presidential directives. These processes require the prior approval of the NHI.
• The flag must be secured with careful consideration of its technical design, color, materials, and craftsmanship. Flag suppliers are required to register annually at the NHI, and are required to furnish the laboratory test results for every color of textile materials to be used in the flag’s manufacture.”
http://www.msc.edu.ph/centennial/display.html
http://www.atlassuperflag.com/Flag%20Display.htm
Hi Ding,
“There are prohibitions on the use of the flag. The flag should not be used as part of, or as an entire costume. It should not be displayed in cockpits, dance halls, and centers of vice. It should not be used as unveiling material in unveiling ceremonies.”
We Americans have a flag, too, initially sewn by Betsy Ross, draping the coffins of too many American soldiers. I have my Uncle’s flag and my Father’s, gifted to me upon their deaths by the US Army, as a patriotic remembrance of the years of their youth they spent helping free Europe during World War II. Attached to that was the war in the Pacific, and many Americans died alongside patriotic Filipinos.
I go a little nuts when people diminish the US as a warmonger nation, when it is truly a peacemonger. Ha, tweaked with commercial self-interest. We (the US) got saddled with this peacemaking role upon emerging from WWII as the only country with the power to offset ambitious Russia and China. The peacekeeping hat has gotten a little atilt now and then, such is the way of things, and I’m glad to see Mr. Obama moving the country back from its solo adventures.
Americans are used to seeing the American flag burned by those who oppose American ideals or activities. Even on Roxas Boulevard, now and then. In those occasions, it is simply a piece of cloth they are burning, not the patriotism it represents. No one can burn that; it burns brightly, and sometimes hotly, within the hearts and spirits of 99.9% of all Americans. Even carved into a jacket worn on American Idol or some other silly show, by some silly starlet, it is still just a piece of cloth.
On a coffin, it is not.
Joe
@Joe
I have the Philippine Flag that my granduncles had flown during the Japanese occupation and dates back to the time when the Flag law was repealed by Gov Gen. Harrison. It has bloodstains on the red field. And the blue field is of the same color as the American blue in the canton. The same flag was hoisted in our home town when the USA recognized our independence.
It is definitely not a piece of cloth to me.
Blackshama,
Precious, indeed. That flag says what blogging cannot.
Joe
Better still, let the Muslims form its own state and then invent its own flag and create its own institutions.
That assumes that the government could allow for its dismemberment from the Republic of the Philippines.
Consuelo de Bobo. Beau geste. It insults our Muslim brothers and twists facts and history. They never revolted against Spain because they didn’t have to. They were never conquered, a difference from Christianized provinces, that they take much pride in. Flash Gordon would take this away from them. Isn’t it not enough that in the allocation of government resources they have the least priority?
@Taxj
That’s why I find Flash Gordon’s historical revisionism insulting. I believe that the Christian majority could pay due recognition to the Muslims by recognizing that their struggle while similar to theirs is indeed, different.
Also in many a FilAm home, there is almost always this “Weapons of Moroland” plaque. All my relatives have it. The pop culture icon is part of the national identity (the shield is in the same shape as the Coat of Arms of the Philippines) and recognizes that Muslim Filipinos were never conquered.
Mindanao gets attention from Pinas military and police.
Also from teachers.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090924-226630/3-teachers-freed-after-6-months-in-captivity
Flag cha? Not without a cha-cha! The Constitution recognizes only the flag that was “consecrated and honored by the people and recognized by law”, not as Ass Gordon and his ilk may want it to be. A layman’s view. Hehehe.
taxj,
‘It insults our Muslim brothers and twists facts and history. They never revolted against Spain because they didn’t have to. They were never conquered, a difference from Christianized provinces, that they take much pride in.’
Our Muslim ancestors actually lost a lot of territory to Spain. You may have forgotten that all of what we now know as the Philippines were formerly several Muslim Kingdoms. Most of these Muslim Kingdoms were conquered by Spain except the Sultanate of Sulu. The Sultanate of Sulu eventually became a protectorate of Spain in 1878.
And America too courtesy of the Bates Treaty
Our muslim ancestors didn’t lose territory to Spain. They lost it to us, the collaborators. So, they didn’t revolt against Spain. If they wanted to, we would have been the more logical target. But Spain was a convenient scapegoat. Let it be that way. Anyway, what we took from our brothers, we gave to our conquistadores. Or rather, they or their progenies took it away from us. Hehehe.
Not quite true. Most Filipinos in the past prior to the Spanish inquisition, except for some small places were animists/pagans.
My grandfather fought in the fight for independence as a Captain.
The flag may symbolize us. But it is in our hearts as Filipinos concerned for our country, and our fellow Filipinos that matter.
The Muslim Filipinos never thought themselves as part of the Philippines. Because of their Islamic Religion. People outside
Islam are called infidels or non believers. Same as viewing the
other person a Pagan. Unless the Muslim Filipinos can remove that
mindset. That the other person next to them, is a Human Being. Even
if he does not share the Muslim faith. This barrier will always
be in the Islam and Christian Filipinos. As I had said: It is the
Dogmas and Doctrines from religions; taught by religious leaders of all faith. That is disuniting mankind for Peace.
That’s the problem with having too many legislators: they have to come up with things to do.
We do not need 24 senators and 250 congressmen. They do little and cost too much.
We have pressing problems; other than flag rays or statues.
These politicians have no common senses to see these problems…
I think this is just a ploy to gain favor in mindanao. A ray? what about refraining the army from attacking during Islamic prayers as they just did recently.
Or maybe this is just guilt from what they did.
or an attempt to be inclusive – what’s the point in calling the moros as filipinos if they are not represented in the flag. such changes arise from a deeper understanding of nation building.
the alternative would be – let’s just get this done and over with – let the bangsa moro be independent of the philippines with its own flag.
Interesting..
I did a little search on the net about their plight. I don’t think modifying a flag could unite or provide a long lasting solution to an age-old history of oppression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangsamoro#History
It seems they were subdued and conquered as opposed to common knowledge. I see now how they could feel betrayed. Why do they rebel from the gov’t? Who would want to be dependent to a government who allowed the moro to be displaced from their land to make room for corporations? These land grabbers and their capitalistic ambitions who have their own militia or hide behind “the army of the Philippines”
They want autonomy from oppression. And because they are ruled mainly from proxies by the administration, they are altogether wishing to be free from the Philippines.
“Without their consent, the Moros’ and the indigenous peoples’ lands were declared Philippines property. Tens of thousands of hectares were sold or leased to foreign and Filipino-owned corporations. Dominated by Filipino landlords seeking to douse mounting demands for land redistribution in the north, the Philippines government set off massive resettlement programs that encouraged and pushed millions of landless, impoverished peasants to the region where the Moros and the Indigenous peoples lived. Laws discriminated against the Moros and the Indigenous peoples: in the 1920s, for example, corporations were allowed to own up to 1024 hectares of land each, Christian settlers could claim up to 16 hectares each, but non-Christians were allotted only four.[ii]”
from:
http://links.org.au/node/631#_edn5
You have to identify the segments in history during which such phenomena happened.
The landgrabbing happened after the Moros submitted to the US occupation forces – NOT the Spaniards, not the Filipinos.
That the Filipinos were able to grab lands, was after the fact of the American occupation.
Prior to that the Spaniards were paying tribute to the Sulu Sultanate – whereas the indios couldn’t own a piece of real estate without approval of the friars and civil authorities.
BongV,
Did Moros have a sense of “ownership” as we understand it, assignable to individuals, versus the notion that the lands belong to the group as a whole. In the US, because the Indians had no sense of ownership, lands were simply claimed by the Europeans, who did.
Joe
Natatawa ako sa commentator sa article
“lagyan din yan ng smiley face para naman sa mga smiling faces ng mga pinoy. at picture ng jeepney, mangga, bagoong, bahay kubo, anahaw, barong tagalog at saya, bakya, sarimanok, mukha ni nora aunor at ni ate vi.”
Gordon needs to retake Philippine History 101. He was also responsible for that Lapu-lapu statue in the Agrifina Circle which is part of Rizal Park. I don’t have anything against Lapu-lapu. I think he has his own park somewhere in Mactan. Did Gordon even check if Lapu-lapu even visited the island of Luzon?
I guess he wants to show a Pinoy ancestor who kicked wannabe-colonizers butt instead of showing a Pinoy who was shotby colonizers.
Kick-ass heroes are definitely cooler than dead ones.
Gordon is a nut…
Seems to be tilting that way . . . This and promoting tourism in the war zone are, ummmmm . . . suspect . . . .
Joe
We are bigger nuts for allowing the carnage to happen.
Methinks it was the Korean community that bankrolled the Luneta Lapu Lapu statue.
i think that it is in the interest of national unity to add a 9th ray on the sun. The 8 rays- Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas- are all Tagalog/Pampango provinces. Are we saying that the revolution is a purely tagalog/pampango endeavor then?
The old school reason of no Muslim symbolism in the flag is that Mindanao is represented by the third star. But if applying consistency, then we are only representing the three major island groups- Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Mindanao is not 100% Muslim.
I say let’s add the ninth ray. It is legislation that created the flag- and it is legislation that is ‘modifying’ the flag.
The revolution started as a purely Tagalog affair. Only a bit later that the Ilocanos, Bicolanos, and Visayans joined in. It is because of 1) The Tagalogs were most politicized, 2) Manila was in the region and 3)Tagalogs even during the times of the Boxer Codex were most politically organized. Ironically, the Boxer Codex labels them as “Moro” not Tagalogs.
But colonialism nipped Islam in the bud. But the fact remains that the Sultans never wanted to join the Aguinaldo republic. The Mindanao star actually recognizes the Muslims as envisioned by the First Republic.
It had to be a tagalog affair. The Moros had nothing to revolt about – they were sovereign in their territories – unlike the tagalogs – who as Jamal Ashely recalls
@ Prof. blackshama,
Manong,
Thanks for the inspiration:
http://atmidfield.com/2009/09/25/historical-revisionism-and-the-national-flag/
i don’t understand this hulabaloo about rays. as long as we all love our country, who cares about rays.
in that case – instead of adding one ray – make it a crescent moon.
@sir gagelonia, thank you for the enlightened post.
Blackshama, yes, i understand your point that our muslim brethren had a totally different fight. by virtue of geography and the incomplete sense of nationhood that we had back then that the muslims were excluded from the Katipunan. this brings me now to a second question, more unrelated to the current thread but still relevant, methinks.
our national heraldry only has 8 tagalog/pampango provinces, and we are excluding the other ethnocultural groups except for an aggregated reference via the 3 stars that symbolize Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
so does this mean even in our republic’s symbols, we are exclusivist and still do not have a complete sense of nationhood?
just thinking out loud.
Assuming that this bill will become a law, where will they get the money to replace all the existing Philippine flags? Oooopppps!
So many comments, but I think the issue here is the legislative proposal by flash gordon to add another ray to the sun on the Philippine flag. What do those eight rays mean and represent? Do they represent particular groups or ethnic people? From what I know the eight rays in the flag represents the first eight provinces that revolted against Spain and not some particular groups of people. Flash gordon’s justification then to add another ray to the flag, just so to please the muslims (obviously for pogi points) is out of context. Assuming, I hope not, flash gordon’s proposal is approve, what comes next? Another ray for Mangyans, igorots,etc? To me, the proposal of flash if passed will be a grave distortion of the true meaning of the symbols in our flag.
Pause for a while. Google a sun for all the people and add the ninth
ray to the Philippine flag. consider the point raised about the two-freedom philosphy of history as the foundation of Filipino nationhood. then see if your view will be the same.