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How our flag lost its face
By Vincent Cabreza and Frank Cimatu
June 2, 1998 - Philippine Daily Inquirer


OUR FLAG has a face, but you wouldn't see it beaming down from the top of government flagpoles today.

The well-hyped replica of the original Philippine flag flown in from Hong Kong last May 24 does not even resemble the flag hoisted by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo 100 years ago from his veranda in Kawit, Cavite.

The flag from Hong Kong, which the National Centennial Commission plans to unfurl on Centennial Day (June 12), bears the easily recognized sun and its symbolic eight rays, a darker blue field that pans down from the white triangle at the center, and a richer red from the opposite field.

But Aguinaldo's flag wields the features of a little-known mythological sun god that dominates the six-meter banner.

The blue and red fields are hued in deep tones. Golden threads line the two-layered banner, with the words Libertad, Justicia, Egualidad (Liberty, Justice, Equality) running down on one side, patterned after the battlecry of the French Revolution.

On the other side of the flag run the words ''Revolucionarios y revolucionarias del Norte de Luzon (Revolutionaries from the North of Luzon).''

The gaudiness of the Aguinaldo flag reflects the general's political moorings, a factor which should not draw questions about its authenticity.

''This is the original Philippine flag, there shouldn't be any doubt,'' said Prof. Lydia Arribas, dean of the University of the Philippines College of Home Economics.

Credibility
But historians are polarized. To this date, no official proclamations have been made to authenticate the flag which vanished mysteriously at the turn of the century, and which publicly surfaced under a pillow on Aguinaldo's deathbed in 1964.

That is the biggest frustration facing Emilio Aguinaldo Suntay III, great-grandson of General Aguinaldo and chief executive officer of the Emilio Aguinaldo Foundation Inc.

''The replica of the flag flown in from Hong Kong (was) rushed by the National Centennial Commission without consulting us but it's too late to make amends now,'' Suntay said.

The family had taken pains to obtain government recognition for the flag. But the relic had been kept out of sight in the Aguinaldo family-run museum in Baguio City for three decades.

Members of the Aguinaldo Foundation admitted that they had been ''hiding'' the relic from Malacañang since the death of General Aguinaldo, hounded by the specter of the flag being destroyed under ''inefficient government care.''

''Almost every June 12, we get demands from the Philippine government to release the flag under the government's custody. Nagtatago nga ang pamilya kapag ganoon na ang okasyon,'' a lawyer of the foundation said.

Suntay instead ''lent'' a replica of the Aguinaldo flag to President Ramos for the May 28 Centennial celebration of the flag's unveiling in Imus where the Battle of Alapan was staged.

That battle was a victory for the Filipino revolucionarios. Hipolito Sakilayan's troops defeated 270 Spanish Marines sent to intercept the weapons Aguinaldo was distributing from Hong Kong.

In his book ''The True Version of Philippine Revolution,'' Aguinaldo wrote: ''I hoisted our national flag in the presence of a great crowd who greeted it with tremendous applause and loud, spontaneous and prolonged cheers for the Philippines.''

But there was no crowd when a replica of the original flag was turned over last week by the University of the Philippines Bahay ng Alumni in Diliman, Quezon City. The foundation said only UP officially acknowledged the existence of the first flag.

Restore 'real' flag
Suntay implored Filipinos ''to rally once more behind this uniquely beautiful and inspiring flag and exhibit their patriotism much in the same way as our forefathers did 100 years ago.''

He said President Manuel Quezon, political rival of Aguinaldo, issued Executive Order 23 in 1936 which fixed the design and measurement of the Philippine flag used in public offices.

Quezon ordered that the Philippine flag follow a maximum length that is ''twice its width,'' and a minimum length that is ''twice the altitude of the equilateral triangle.''

Aguinaldo's mythic sun was also replaced by a sun with ''eight major rays with two minor beams for each ray.''

The light blue stripe was ''standardized to dark blue,'' while the white triangle was enlarged ''by making any side of it equal to the width of the flag at the hoist.''

Both the Constitution and the National Flag Law carry this instructions to the letter.

''The fact that the Centennial has chosen to recreate a flag in Hong Kong based on the Quezon flag clearly shows the need for a deeper and more accurate writing of history,'' Suntay said.

From 1907 to 1919, the Aguinaldo flag was actually banned from public display by the Americans who intended to expunge ''all memories associated with General Aguinaldo,'' he said.

It was during these days when the flag supposedly vanished. A foundation lawyer said the flag was presumed lost during a Nueva Ecija battle.

When the ban was lifted by the Philippine Legislature on Oct. 30, 1919, Philippine Flag Day, only the old veterans of the Philippine Revolution could recall the original flag, historian Emmanuel Baja said.

Over the years, historians debated about the flag's existence. In a 1960 portrait of Aguinaldo, he is shown holding the flag, which appeared so weighed and bulky that it could hardly stand on its own.

Witness
Last May 25, foundation lawyers finally met with historians from the De La Salle University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Naic Historical Committee and the Cavite Historical Commission.

A lawyer, who requested anonymity, said there was a consensus among historians that the flag kept by the family was authentic, ''and they promised to issue a resolution urging government to recognize our flag.''

But the Alapan celebration came and went with no declarations backing the relic.

She said the clincher was the testimony of Aguinaldo's personal secretary, Felisa Diokno, who witnessed the return of the missing flag to the general.

But the general had kept it hidden, even on his deathbed. The flag was actually under the general's pillow when he died, Suntay said.

Postscript
Marcela Agoncillo, wife of Filipino diplomat Felipe Agoncillo, sewed the flag in Hong Kong, together with her daughter Lorenzana and Delfina Natividad in 1898.

Last month, the NCC reenacted the sewing of the flag in Hong Kong with overseas Filipino workers Nermeline Andres, Susette Casilio and Eirene Busa. That flag was flown in last May 24 with much fanfare.

A more studied and detailed replica will be sewn together by UP, using the technology used in the 19th century to approximate the type of weave, and the proper color tone of the materials used for the first flag, Arribas said.

But the location of the original flag is being kept under tight security by the Aguinaldo foundation. The original flag had been kept in a low-key Baguio museum owned by the family since the early 1980s.

The relic is in a state of decay, with frayed edges tucked under two layers of colored silk weaves. The flag is wrapped in a metallic mesh fiber, and encased in a glass cage when displayed at the local museum.

Academicians said government and the Aguinaldo heirs must come to terms soon, in order to cooperate in restoring and protecting the only relic that symbolizes the country's inner soul.

''Our Constitution had been changed constantly, and we have been under so many regimes we can barely count the changes. This flag is the only stabilizing element representing the Filipino spirit. I don't think we all want to lose that,'' the Aguinaldo lawyer said. With a report from Rolando Fernandez

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