List of Philippine flags

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

National flag

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1898–present	National flag of the Philippines	A horizontal bicolor of equal bands of blue and red, with a white equilateral chevron spanning the width of the hoist. Within the chevron are three five-pointed stars (fixed on each of the vertices), and a sun with eight major rays (set in the center), all in yellow.

Governmental flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
Executive Branch
	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 golden stars on each corner.
	1948–1951	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The Presidential Arms (minus the circle of stars) against a blue field with four golden stars on each corner.
	1951-1965	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The 1948 design, with the four golden stars replaced by a ring of golden stars. The number of stars theoretically changed as the number of provinces changed.
	1981–1986	Flag of the President of the Philippines	The flag's shade became a lighter blue, and the red triangle was inverted. The sea-lion was replaced by a golden eagle, bearing three branches and arrows, and the ring of stars were 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	The Presidential Arms against a white field.
Legislative Branch
	1987	Flag of the Senate President	The Seal of the Senate against a red field.
	1987	Flag of the Speaker of the House	The Seal of the House of Representatives against a red field.
Judicial Branch
	1946	Flag of the Supreme Court
	1978	Flag of the Sandiganbayan
	1946	Flag of the Court of Appeals
		Flag of the Court of Tax Appeals
Other government offices
		Customs Ensign	Navy blue and white vertical bands with a white canton bearing a gold sea-lion bearing a sword.
		Flag of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority	Seal of the MMDA on a white field.

Military flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
(1936–1998) (1998–present)	Only during a state of war	State and War flag	The national flag, hoisted with red and blue fields inverted, unique among the national flags.
		Naval Jack of the Philippines	The "Three Stars and a Sun" 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 Philip V
	1761–1785	Used during Spanish East Indies period.	Flag of Spain under the reign of King Philip 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. 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, 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.	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. Colours introduced for the Centennial celebrations.

Regional flags

Among the country's 17 regions, only the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has their own regional flags.

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1992–present	Regional flag of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao	A horizontal tricolor of equal blue (top), white (middle) and red (bottom) stripes. Top stripe bears one yellow five-pointed star; the middle stripe, a green circle filled with yellow elements — a tilted crescent moon nearly enclosing four smaller five-pointed stars; the bottom stripe, a silver kris. The number of smaller stars, meant to represent the number of the region's constituent provinces, has de facto varied from four (1992–2001), to five (2001–2006), to six (2006–2008) to five again (2006–present), but because the flag specifications contained within the 1992 law (Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 12) have not been amended the original flag remains the de jure official design.
	1988–1995	Former regional flag of Cordillera Administrative Region	A horizontal bicolor of green (top) and yellow (bottom), centered on which is a charge consisting of a Cordillera warrior shield bearing the pre-Kalinga-Apayao-division logo originally adopted by the CAR Regional Development Council (RDC) in 1988.

Under the final version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to be reconciled by the Bicameral Committee in July 2018, the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region is given the right to have its own flag and anthem.

Provincial flags

Main article: Flags of the Philippine provinces

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
		Municipal flag of Garcia Hernandez, Bohol
	2003–present	Municipal flag of Kalilangan, Bukidnon	Blue and green horizontal stripes with a white canton bearing a sun surrounded by 14 stars. Adopted on June 9, 2003 through Municipal Council Resolution No. 2003-315.
		Municipal flag of Maribojoc, Bohol	Stripe of green, white, and blue with a sun in the middle bearing the silhouette of a church
		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
	1995-present	Flag of Cavite City

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
	1902–1906	Flag of the Tagalog Republic
File:Free Territory of Freedomland Flag.svg	1956–?	Flag of the Free Territory of Freedomland	The flag of Freedomland, a micronation founded by Tomas Cloma in the Spratly islands.

Flag proposals

Flag	Date proposed	Use	Description
	1998	National Flag	Addition of a 9th ray as proposed in 1998 and 2009
	2014	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.
	1995	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.

See also

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