By virtue of RA 8491, otherwise known as the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, yearly, we observe Flag days from May 28 to June 12. This is in commemoration of the victory of General Emilio Famy Aguinaldo and his gallant men against the Spaniards and the unfurling of the first Philippine flag at the Battle of Alapan on 28 May 1898, in Barangay Alapan, Imus, Cavite.
Fifteen days later, the same flag was unfurled, waved, and hoisted in Aguinaldo’s window in the town of Cavite-Viejo (now Kawit, Cavite) on 12 June 1898, during the declaration of Philippine Independence. The declaration is considered as the most significant achievement of Emilio Aguinaldo’s short-lived Dictatorial Government.
Dubbed the mother and the principal seamstress of the first and official flag of Philippines, Marcela Mariño de Agoncillo, mechanically and manually sewed the first and the official flag of the Philippines, along side her daughter Lorenza and Delfina Herbosa Natividad, in Hong Kong.
The first flag, together with the war flag and other memorabilia of the first Philippine President, is kept in an air-conditioned repository inside the Aguinaldo museum, owned by Cristina Aguinaldo-Suntay, the youngest daughter of General Aguinaldo and wife of Mr. Federico Suntay, in Baguio City.
The display of national flag came about after the repeal of Sedition Act of 1907 in October 1919
Did you know that the blue color in our flag was changed five times?
The original “Cuban blue” by Aguinaldo was replaced after the repeal of Flag Law in 1917. It became a “navy blue” patterned after the American flag.
However, in 1985, then Pres Marcos ordered to restore it to much lighter “Cuban Blue.” Following the ouster of the Marcoses in 1986, it was reverted to its navy blue color.
Finally, after the approval of “the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines” (RA 8491), in preparation for the Philippine centennial, the color navy blue was changed to “royal blue.”