List of flags of the Philippines

This is the list of all the flags used and being used in the Philippines.

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National flag

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1898–present	National flag of the Philippines	A horizontal bicolor with equal bands of blue and red, with a triangular side object which encloses a sun with eight rays together with three stars fixed on the vertexes of the triangle.

Governmental flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	2004–present	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The Seal of the President of the Philippines against a Blue field. The number of stars correspond to the number of provinces.
	1946–1948	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The coat of arms of the Philippines against a blue field with four stars on each corner.
	1948–1951	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The coat of arms of President of the Philippines (without the circle of stars) against a blue field with four stars on each corner.
	1951-1965	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The 1948 design remained, but replaced the four stars with a ring of stars. The number of stars theoretically changed as the number of stars changed.[1]
	1981–1986	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The flag was revised with a noticeably different shade of blue and an inverted triangle. The sea lion was replaced by an eagle and the ring of stars' color changed to white.
	1986–2004	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The coat of arms of the President of the Philippines with white as the color of the stars against a light blue field.
	2004	Flag of the Vice President of the Philippines
	1987	Flag of the Senate President of the Philippines
	1987	Flag of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines
	1946	Flag of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
		Ensign of the Philippine Customs	Navy Blue and White vertical bands with a white canton bearing a gold sea-lion.

Military flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
(1936–1998) (1998–present)	Only during a state of war	State and War flag	Same as national flag with red and blue inverted, unique among the national flags.
		Naval Jack of the Philippines	The "Three Stars and a Sun" emblem against a Royal Blue field.
	2005–present	Flag of the Philippine Armed Forces
	2002–present	Flag of the Philippine Navy	Seal of the Philippine Navy on a dark blue field.
	2004–present	Flag of the Philippine Marine Corps	Coat of arms of the Philippine Marine Corps on a blue field, flanked by ribbons bearing the organization's name in English and motto in Tagalog.
	2005–present	Flag of the Philippine Army	Seal of the Philippine Army on a dark green field.
	2005–present	Flag of the Philippine Air Force	Seal of the Philippine Air Force on a blue field.

Civil flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1903–present	Coastwise Emblem of the Philippines	White flag with a blue and red star on the horizontal median line.

Historical national flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
The Spanish East Indies (1565–1898)
	1565–1730	Flag used when the Philippine Islands were a part of New Spain.	The Cross of Burgundy: a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned branches, on a white field.
	1730–1761	Used during Spanish East Indies period.	Flag of Spain under the reign of King Felipe V
	1761–1785	Used during Spanish East Indies period.	Flag of Spain under the reign of King Felipe V's grandson, King Carlos III
	1762–1764	Flag during the British occupation of the Philippines, as used in occupied Manila and Cavite.	The flag of the British East India Company before 1810: A flag with red and white stripes with the Kingdom of Great Britain's Union Flag as a canton. The Union flag bears red cross on a white field, commonly called St George's Cross, superimposed on a white saltire on a blue field, known as St Andrew's Cross. Also known as the "King's Colours".
	1785–1873	Used during Spanish East Indies period.	Three horizontal stripes of red, weld-yellow and red, the centre stripe being twice as wide as each red stripe with arms in the first third of the weld-yellow stripe. The arms are crowned and vertically divided, the left red field with a tower representing Castille, the right white field with a lion representing León.
	1873–1874	Used by the Spanish East Indies under the First Spanish Republic.	Three horizontal stripes: red, weld-yellow and red, the yellow strip being twice as wide as each red stripe with arms in the first third of the yellow stripe. Royal crown removed from arms.
	1874–1898	Used during Spanish East Indies after the restoration of the Spanish monarchy.	The flag of the Kingdom of Spain used prior to the First Spanish Republic was reinstated.
Philippine Revolution – First Philippine Republic
	1897–1898	First official flag of the Philippine republic and used during the Philippine Revolution.	The flag was created in Naic, Cavite and first displayed in 1897. It features an eight-rayed white sun with a mythical face on a field of red.
	1898–1901	The Three Stars and a Sun design was conceived by President Emilio Aguinaldo. The exact shade of blue is debated; three variants were used by subsequent governments.	Sewn by Doña Marcela Marino de Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herbosa de Natividad in Hong Kong and first flown in battle on May 28, 1898. It was formally unfurled during the Proclamation of Philippine Independence and the flag of the First Philippine Republic, on June 12, 1898 by President Aguinaldo. It contains a mythical sun (with a face) similar to the Sun of May in other former Spanish colonies; the triangle of Freemasonry; the eight rays representing eight rebellious provinces of the Philippines first placed under martial law by the Governor-General.[lower-alpha 1] The flag was initially unfurled with the blue stripe above, but was flown with the red stripe above at the outbreak of the Philippine–American War in 1899. The flag has the words Fuerzas Expeditionarias del Norte de Luzon on its obverse and Libertad Justicia e Ygualdad on its reverse.
American and Commonwealth Period (1898–1946)
	1898–1908	Used while under direct administration from the United States of America.	The Philippine Commission, passed Act No. 1697 or the Flag Law of 1907, which outlawed the display of the Philippine flag and replaced the country’s flag to the stars and stripes of the United States of America. The same law prohibited the playing of the national anthem. Thirteen horizontal stripes of alternating red and white representing the original Thirteen Colonies; in the canton, white stars on a blue field, the number of stars increased as the United States expanded its territory.
	1908–1912	Variant after Oklahoma became a state
	1912–1919	Variant after Arizona and New Mexico achieved statehood
	1919–1936	From October 30, 1919,[2] two flags were flown in the Philippines, the American flag and the flag conceived by Emilio Aguinaldo which was made the national flag of the Philippines with the repealing of Act No. 1697.[3]	The American flag remained unchanged since 1919. For the Philippine flag, the design conceived by Emilio Aguinaldo remained but the shades of blue and red were adopted from the American flag. The sun's face was removed, but its stylised rays were retained. It should be noted that there existed many versions of the flag as no official design had been codified.
	1936–1946		Specifications codified; Defined under Executive Order No. 23, s. 1936. The shade of blue used was navy blue, following suit from the American Flag. The triangle was made equilateral and the sun's rays were also further simplified, achieving its present form. Also used by the Commonwealth government-in-exile from 1942–1945.
Japanese Period (1942–1945)
	1942–1943	Used during the Japanese Occupation.	The Japanese flag as it appeared until 1999: a red sun-disc, shifted 1% left of centre, on a white field.
	October 14, 1943	Used during the inauguration of the Second Republic.	Emilio Aguinaldo's flag was hoisted upon proclamation of the Second Republic. However, the design as used by the Commonwealth remained.
Sovereignty (1946–present)
	1946–1985	Following independence, the 1936 design specifications codified by Manuel Quezon remains but the shades of blue and red varied through the years. In 1998, the flag gained its present definitive shades.	Defined under Executive Order No. 23, s. 1936 dated March 25, 1936. The shade of blue used here is Navy Blue, following suit from the American Flag.
	1985–1986		Altered by Executive Order No. 1010, s. 1985 signed in February 25, 1985. The shade of blue was changed from Navy Blue to Light Blue, amidst debate on the shade used in the original flag. A pale Sky Blue was the actual colour used since it was more available at that time and not due to any specific historical precedent.
	1986–1998		1936 version of the flag restored after the 1986 People Power Revolution. President Corazon C. Aquino restored the pre-martial law specifications of the National flag through Executive Order No. 292, s. 1987 which was signed in July 25, 1986.
	1998–present		The Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines specifies the colours for the blue field Cable No. 80173; the white field, Cable No. 80001; the red field, Cable No. 80108; and the golden-yellow Stars and Sun, Cable No. 80068.[4][5] Colours introduced for the Centennial celebrations.

Regional flags

Provincial flags

Most of the flags of the provinces of the Philippines are in 1:2 ratio with the provincial seal/coat-of-arms on a field of single color, although a few have designs differing from that standard.

Flag	Date	Use	Description
		Provincial flag of Bohol	A tricolour with the white stripe being double the width of the blue and red stripes. Superimposed on the white stripe is the main portion of the seal of Bohol. It consists of two bolos representing the Tamblot Uprising and the Dagohoy Rebellion, the Chocolate Hills and the Sandugo between Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna. It also contains a little star representing Carlos P. Garcia, the only Boholano President of the Philippines (another star will be installed for every Boholano president).
Link to image		Provincial flag of Batangas	Horizontal tricolor of blue, white and red. The seal of the province is inscribed on the center of the flag.
Link to image		Provincial flag of Bukidnon	Three equal horizontal stripes; white for honesty and purity; red for commerce, courage, bravery and heroism; black for authority and a Spear and Shield.
	1970–present	Provincial flag of Cagayan	Horizontal tricolor of blue, gold and red with the coat of arms of the province, surrounded by 29 stars, on the left side of the flag.
		Provincial flag of Camarines Norte	A tricolor of green, white, and yellow.
Link to image	2010–present	Provincial flag of Southern Leyte	A green flag with a golden fringe, white cross, coconut and abaca leaves and four orchids.

Municipal flags

Like the flags of most Philippine provinces, flags of municipalities usually just bear the seal of the municipality on a single color field but there are some municipality flags that differs from the standard

Flag	Date	Use	Description
		Municipal flag of Balilihan, Bohol
Link to image		Municipal flag of Garcia Hernandez, Bohol, Bohol
Link to image		Municipal flag of Kalilangan, Bukidnon	Blue and green horizontal stripes with a white canton bearing a sun surrounded by 14 stars
Link to image		Municipal flag of Maribojoc, Bohol	Stripe of green, white, and blue with a sun in the middle bearing the silhouette of a church
Link to image		Municipal flag of San Mateo, Rizal	Light sky blue field with a white stripe on the center bearing an eight-pointed sun and a palm frond
		Municipal Flag of Bustos, Bulacan

Other historical flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1571-1575	A red pennant used by the Kingdom of Tondo especially during the reign of Lakandula.	A plain crimson red triangular flag.
		Flag of the Sultanate of Maguindanao	A plain yellow flag.
	1762–1763	Flag of the Silang Revolt
	18th Century	Flag of the Sulu Sultanate	Flag of Sulu Sultanate according to Pierre Sonnerat.
	1807	Flag of the Basi Revolt
	1845–1898	Provincial Ensign of the Manila
	1886–1898	Provincial Ensign of Ilo-Ilo
	1872	Flag of the Cavite Mutiny
	Late 19th Century	Flag of the Sulu Sultanate
	1898	Flag of the Negros Revolution	Banner used by Negrense revolutionaries during their revolution.
	1898–1901	Flag of the Republic of Negros
	1899–1903	Flag of the Republic of Zamboanga
	1902–1906	Flag of the Tagalog Republic
	1956–?	Flag of the Free Territory of Freedomland	The flag of Freedomland, a micronation founded by Tomas Cloma in the Spratly islands.

Flag Proposals and concepts

Flag	Date	Use	Description
		National Flag	Addition of a 9th ray as proposed in 1998 and 2009
		National Flag	Emmanuel L. Osorio's proposal. Addition of a ninth ray to represent the Muslim and indigenous people and a fourth star for Sabah.
		National Flag	Flag proposals made in June 12, 1995 by former President Fidel V. Ramos. Proposal to add a crescent moon to represent the Muslim community.
		Provincial Flag	Proposed flag for the province of Negros Occidental, based on the flag during the Negros Revolution.

See also

• Flag of the Philippines
• Coat of Arms of the Philippines
• Flags of the Philippine provinces
• Flags of the Philippine Revolution

Notes

References