Philippines

When the grandson of the king, King Carlos III gained power the coat of arms of the flag was altered from a shield to an oval.

In 1762 the British occupied Manila and Cavite. The flag of the British East India Company was adopted as the de-facto flag. The flag features thirteen alternating red and white stripes with the Union Flag top left.

The Philippines gained independence in 1897 and a revolution flag made of a red field with red faced white sun and white rays. A year later the President Emilio Aguinaldo designed a new flag for the Philippines. It was a blue and red bicolour with white triangle, golden mythical faced sun and text and laurel branches in the centre. There was also a variant of the flag with a lighter blue field and more golden sun without the text or laurel branches.

As each new state was added to America a new star was added to the flag. In 1912 the flag had 48 stars as Arizona and New Mexico were added. In 1919 a modified Flag of the Philippines was reinstated with a darker blue band and no face on the sun.

The Japanese relinquished control back to the Philippines in 1943. The bicolour flag was reinstated with a redesigned bronze eight-ray sun and stars. The official flag adopted after the second republic was brought back with a lighter gold sun/star and a darker more American blue band.

After a debate on what colour the original flag was in 1985 the flags blue band was changed to a sky blue. A people’s power revolution lead to the reinstatement of the flag of the Second republic with a darker blue banner. In 1998 the colour of the top band was changed to royal blue.

The white triangle on the flag represents the secret society called the Katipunan who were opposed to the Spanish Rule, the blue and red commemorate the United States of America and the sun represents progress.

The Proposed Flags of the Philippines

In both 1998 and 2009 there was a proposition that a 9th ray should be added to the flag of the Philippines to represent Muslim and indigenous people. Another flag with an extra star and a a rectangular white field was adopted.  In 1995 there was also the proposal to add a crescent moon to the flag and have the triangle in the centre.

The Historical Emblems of the Philippines

There have been many emblems of the Philippines over the years. The first was the Coat of Arms of Spanish East Indies. These were the arms of the Spanish sovereign and included a crowned shield split into four parts featuring castles and lions. In the early 20th Century the coat of arms of Manila featured a crowned shield split into two parts, the top being a gold castle on a red background and the lower portion has a blue background with a silver sealion.

In 1899 a red triangle with faced sun and three five-pointed stars was adopted as the First Philippines Republic.

During the time of the Philippines being an American Colony the shield included the golden eagle and part of the coat of arms of Manila.

In 1943 a triangular emblem with the eight-rayed sun was adopted and eventually a Japanese produced coat of arms was chosen featuring a shield with the sun in a white triangle in front of a red and blue bicolour with a top white band with three gold stars.