LANDSCAPE
By GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA
Gemma Cruz Araneta
At first blush, the “Salute to a Clean Flag” project seemed like a marketing gimmick for a new detergent, but, I was wrong. It is a sharp shooter’s bullet that hits you between the eyes. The message is loud and clear. Look around you. There are so many Philippine flags on facades of private and public edifices, of ubiquitous barangay centers, malls, schools, hospitals, lamp posts and electric poles that are in a pathetic condition; faded, tattered, and torn beyond recognition. Is that the way we should treat our national emblem? Why do we treatthe Philippine flag, our primordial national symbol, with such lack of respect? How absolutely shameful!
“Salute to a Clean Flag” is the brainchild of Monique Corellis Provone, CEO of the Provone Tai International Property Consultants. This movement has the blessings of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) as well as the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Armed Forces. Apparently, while doing volunteer work for the Makati Medical Center Foundation in the spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility, it dawned on Ms. Provone that our men in uniform are always ready to fight in defense of our nation and flag; they revere and venerate the Philippine flag, unlike most civilians who do care a hoot about the national symbol and treat it as if it were an old rag, mere piece of cloth.
The movement has private sector members as well, like the Ayala Foundation, and property developers that are making huge investments outside congested suburban areas, in idyllic “townships” and “estates” which to me are colonial “reducciones” and “pueblos” reinvented for 21th century purposes. Clean Philippine flags will be conspicuously unfurled in these new communities as well as in airports, seaports, coastlines, museums in tourist destinations, and heritage properties. Don’t forget the West Philippine Sea, Ms. Provone.
I learned about this from Atty. Teresita Herbosa, former head of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), who happens to be my cousin on the Rizal side of the family. Her great grandmother, Lucia Rizal, married Mariano Herbosa (in more turbulent times, he was refused burial for not going to church). Tess was invited to join the “Salute to a Clean Flag” by virtue of her being a descendant of Delfina Herbosa, daughter of Lucia, who helped Marcela Agoncillo sew the first official Philippine flag, when Emilio Aguinaldo was exiled to Hong Kong after the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. How appropriate that you are on board, I told Tess, it is good to know the proponents of “clean flag” made some research.
Then, we got to talking about the Flag Law of 1907 that prohibited the display of the Philippine flag and emblems, banners, standards, and whatever devises “…used in the Philippine islands for the purpose of rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the USA and the display of Katipunan flags, banners, emblems…” Those who violated that law were fined not less than 500 pesos or were imprisoned for not less than 3 months, but not more than 5 years, or both, according to the discretion of the court. Neither could the Philippine flag be exposed during banquets, entertainment, public meeting or reunions, parades, processions or reviews.
The American colonial government forbade the display of the Philippine flag when they noticed that during the electoral campaigns for members of the first Philippine Assembly, Filipinos enthusiastically displayed enormous Philippine flags and totally ignored the American one. The Americans were alarmed that there were still “… remnants of the insurrection in the Philippines islands… those in armed rebellion against the United States …” They were afraid that the Philippine flag could be “… adopted at any time by the public enemies of the United States in the Philippine Islands for purposes of public disorder or rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States.”
The unicameral Philippine Assembly exerted its best efforts to scrap the Flag Law of 1907, to no avail. When it was transformed into a Philippine Legislature with two chambers, the struggle for the abrogation of the odious Flag Law became more relentless. Finally, Gov-Gen. Francis Burton Harrison expressed his sympathy during a message to the Legislature, after which Senator Rafael Palma rapidly sponsored Senate Bill No. 1 which demanded the abrogation of the Flag Law. Both chambers passed the Palma bill in October, 1919. Filipinos were teary eyed when they saw the Philippine Flag again.
How ironic that after all that trouble, we cannot even keep our flag clean.
([email protected])
Gemma Cruz Araneta
At first blush, the “Salute to a Clean Flag” project seemed like a marketing gimmick for a new detergent, but, I was wrong. It is a sharp shooter’s bullet that hits you between the eyes. The message is loud and clear. Look around you. There are so many Philippine flags on facades of private and public edifices, of ubiquitous barangay centers, malls, schools, hospitals, lamp posts and electric poles that are in a pathetic condition; faded, tattered, and torn beyond recognition. Is that the way we should treat our national emblem? Why do we treatthe Philippine flag, our primordial national symbol, with such lack of respect? How absolutely shameful!
“Salute to a Clean Flag” is the brainchild of Monique Corellis Provone, CEO of the Provone Tai International Property Consultants. This movement has the blessings of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) as well as the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Armed Forces. Apparently, while doing volunteer work for the Makati Medical Center Foundation in the spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility, it dawned on Ms. Provone that our men in uniform are always ready to fight in defense of our nation and flag; they revere and venerate the Philippine flag, unlike most civilians who do care a hoot about the national symbol and treat it as if it were an old rag, mere piece of cloth.
The movement has private sector members as well, like the Ayala Foundation, and property developers that are making huge investments outside congested suburban areas, in idyllic “townships” and “estates” which to me are colonial “reducciones” and “pueblos” reinvented for 21th century purposes. Clean Philippine flags will be conspicuously unfurled in these new communities as well as in airports, seaports, coastlines, museums in tourist destinations, and heritage properties. Don’t forget the West Philippine Sea, Ms. Provone.
I learned about this from Atty. Teresita Herbosa, former head of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), who happens to be my cousin on the Rizal side of the family. Her great grandmother, Lucia Rizal, married Mariano Herbosa (in more turbulent times, he was refused burial for not going to church). Tess was invited to join the “Salute to a Clean Flag” by virtue of her being a descendant of Delfina Herbosa, daughter of Lucia, who helped Marcela Agoncillo sew the first official Philippine flag, when Emilio Aguinaldo was exiled to Hong Kong after the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. How appropriate that you are on board, I told Tess, it is good to know the proponents of “clean flag” made some research.
Then, we got to talking about the Flag Law of 1907 that prohibited the display of the Philippine flag and emblems, banners, standards, and whatever devises “…used in the Philippine islands for the purpose of rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the USA and the display of Katipunan flags, banners, emblems…” Those who violated that law were fined not less than 500 pesos or were imprisoned for not less than 3 months, but not more than 5 years, or both, according to the discretion of the court. Neither could the Philippine flag be exposed during banquets, entertainment, public meeting or reunions, parades, processions or reviews.
The American colonial government forbade the display of the Philippine flag when they noticed that during the electoral campaigns for members of the first Philippine Assembly, Filipinos enthusiastically displayed enormous Philippine flags and totally ignored the American one. The Americans were alarmed that there were still “… remnants of the insurrection in the Philippines islands… those in armed rebellion against the United States …” They were afraid that the Philippine flag could be “… adopted at any time by the public enemies of the United States in the Philippine Islands for purposes of public disorder or rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States.”
The unicameral Philippine Assembly exerted its best efforts to scrap the Flag Law of 1907, to no avail. When it was transformed into a Philippine Legislature with two chambers, the struggle for the abrogation of the odious Flag Law became more relentless. Finally, Gov-Gen. Francis Burton Harrison expressed his sympathy during a message to the Legislature, after which Senator Rafael Palma rapidly sponsored Senate Bill No. 1 which demanded the abrogation of the Flag Law. Both chambers passed the Palma bill in October, 1919. Filipinos were teary eyed when they saw the Philippine Flag again.
How ironic that after all that trouble, we cannot even keep our flag clean.
([email protected])