^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Proposals for changes to the flag of the Philippines

Flag with crescent moon
Flag with nine rays
President Fidel Ramos proposals (1995)

See also:

Flag with crescent moon

by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

I have some more on the Philippine flag. I remember reading quite a few years back about plans to change the national flag. The first was the addition of a golden crescent to the left of the sun in the centre of the white triangle. I cannot find actual articles on this proposal but here is an Asiaweek reader's reaction on former president Fidel Ramos' implication that the crescent symbolizes Islam just like in the Malaysian and Singaporean flags: http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/95/0714/letters.html. I don't know how deeply this issue was considered by lawmakers but this proposal was definitely made to appease the Muslim minority in the country.
Jay Allen Villapando, 11 February 2005

by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

The wartime version of the flag.
Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

Flag with 9 rays

by Jay Allen Villapando, 11 February 2005

The second is the addition of another ray in the sun, which is already mentioned in the FOTW site. I made a rendition of the flag.
Jay Allen Villapando, 11 February 2005

According to Gilbert Felongco, "Gulf News", 18 February 2009, the independent Senator Richard Gordon proposed [again] on 17 February 2009 to add a ninth ray to the sun featured on the national flag of Philippines. While the eight rays of the sun represent the eight original provinces that rose against the Spanish colonial rule, the ninth ray would "Filipino Muslims' contribution to national freedom" and "acknowledge the bravery of Muslim Filipinos".
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Philippines/10287236.html

The biography and achievements of Richard "Dick" Gordon (b. 1945) are available on the website of the Senate of the Philippines: http://www.senate.gov.ph/senators/sen_bio/gordon_bio.asp.
Ivan Sache, 22 February 2009

Here are two recent articles dealing with this issue: http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Philippines/10351911.html and http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/222034/proposed-9th-ray-rp-flag-elates-muslims. All related bills are downloadable at the website of the Philippines Senate: http://www.senate.gov.ph/
Jos Poels, 25 September 2009

This would make many changes then... beside the national flag, such a change would affect, I guess, the naval jack, president and vice-president flags, all other flags that include the coat of arms, like the Supreme Court flag, the Senate flag, and other flags that include the national sun in other designs, like the Armed Forces flag, Chief of Staff flag, Army flag, Marine Corps flag. It should also be reflected in the war time vs. peace time flag - currently the change was simple, an upside down flag was entirely equal to the upright flag except the order or the red and blue stripes - the new flag would (presumably) not be symmetrical along a horizontal axis - whether the war time would require a specially sewn flag in that case or not, we have yet to see.
Željko Heimer, 25 September 2009

Proposals to change the Philippine flag have been around since the 1970s. These include adding a ninth ray to represent Zambales (the provincial government of which insisted that it was among the provinces to revolt against Spain), or adding a crescent moon beside the 8-rayed sun to represent the various Filipino Muslim entities that successfully retained their autonomy until the American colonial era. In this most recent move to change the flag there's a bit of a coincidence, as Sen. Richard Gordon (who hails from Zambales) is the one putting forth the Senate bill seeking to add a ninth ray to represent Muslims - a melding of the two proposals mentioned above!
Jay Villapando, 26 September 2009

by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

I rotated the sun so that the "odd ray" is either pointing toward the hoist or the fly so as to provide a horizontal axis around which the flag can be flipped - a more likely scenario if the change were to actually happen.
by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

These are the wartime versions of the possible flags.
by Jay Allen Villapando, 26 September 2009

I found additional proposals on changing the flag (apart from representing Zambales or Filipino Muslims) from this document: http://www.mbcenter.org/pub/pdf/notes_flag101.pdf. Here the addition of a ninth ray is to represent the province of Quezon (called 'Tayabas' in the Spanish era). Another proposal involves the addition of a 'budong cane,' to represent the natives of the Cordilleras of northern Luzon island who, like the Muslims in the south, were never fully integrated into colonial Philippines until the American period.

Here's a link to a news item (in Filipino) on the recent congressional 'approval' on changing the flag: http://www.gmanews.tv/video/48234/congress-okays-9th-ray-of-sun-in-rp-flag. The law still has not been passed, rather, the lower and upper houses just merely smoothed out incongruities with their versions of the amendment to Republic Act 8491.
Jay Villapando, 26 September 2009

President Fidel Ramos proposals (1995)

images by Kazutaka Nishiura, 14 October 2009

On June 12 1995 former President Fidel Ramos made new flag proposals. His suggestions were to incorporate a crescent into the existing national flag to represent Muslims in Southern Islands of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 14 October 2009