The Philippine Flag

The Philippine Flag

Credo quia absurdum. “I believe because it is absurd." -Tertullian

There is no need for the ninth ray to exist in the Philippine Flag If the ninth ray symbolizes our Muslim brethren then they need not despair or smudge over the issue. They are not represented out in the Philippine flag. There are three five-pointed stars in the perfect triangle of our flag. As every schoolboy knows—one of them stands for Mindanao. You were right when you wrote “The sultanates of Sulu and Mindanao were, by themselves, nations why reduce them to a single obtrusive ninth ray of the sun in the Philippine flag.”

Like you I am also fascinated about why our Philippine flag is at is IS. For me this is an eternal epistemological question harboring no satisfactory answer, except save for those whose sense of patriotism is coupled with the religious and mystical tinge. But not like any other flags, the Philippine flag is simply cannot be variated. In other nations, for example, some athletes or boxers wear shorts with their national flag as the design. Particularly in the US, models wear star-stripped dresses for fashion In the Philippines you just cannot do that. Only heroes, public servants are privileged to be cloth by the Philippine flag when they are dead. The color red and blue marks their soul. The flag is so sacred that even a poster or a picture of it with imprinted words like “Pilipinas Kong Mahal” is considered sacrilegious. Partnered to this is the proper singing of the Philippine National Anthem—the soul of the Philippine flag. To sing it in any other way is blasphemy; to forget the lyrics, while singing it, is atheism. In the book AnaGomKin by David Hesselbrand ( http://www.lulu.com/content/paperbackbook/anagomkin/7030968) the author showed ( to quote your words) “the symbolism of its elements.” However, we already knew in our elementary days that the sun in our flag stands for liberty; the eight rays were the eight provinces that fought against Spain. They are Manila, Bulacan, Pamapanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Cavite and Batangas. The three stars in each corner of the triangle represents Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The color red is for bravery and valor while blue is for peace and justice. The color white represents purity. However, this color

has some other significance. We remember that before the sun in the Philippine flag has a face. This reminds a Masonic touch for those who first designed the flag. But the face was erased and so was its historical why. But what the author interestingly showed is that the Philippine flag when hanged upright hides the invisible image of the crucified Christ. The flag speaks through the symbol of the sun, stars and through the pattern of the colors red and blue. The author pointed out that the formation of the boundaries for the colors red and blue outlines the letter Y-which the author claims is the first letter of the famous name of God—YHWH—the Tetragrammaton. This in turn is the position of the crucified Christ on the cross. This may sound silly. Psychologically, one may see what one expects to see. And yet the author ties this up the Philippine National Anthem. As the flag is physical clothe for the Christ, the author showed that the Philippine National Anthem is the soul of it that expects the resurrected or risen Christ. The Philippine National Anthem he wrote proclaims the second coming of the Christ. In the English version we have the lines, “Land of the morning, Child of the sun returning…” If we ask who is the child of the sun who will return? Why will he return? From where? We do not know the answer. Most people do not care to know. We know that the Filipino version is not the exact translation of the English version. Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan… The National Anthem Lupang Hinirang was first sung only on May 26, 1956 that was during the term of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay. Yet if we mince the words Lupang Hinirang we have it in the English as Chosen Land—which connotes mystical or religious reverberations. But then again we have in the English version in the fifth line as sung, “Land dear and holy… In the eight line it says, “…thy sacred shores.” The Philippines a Holy Land? We know that the Holy Land most Christians believe is Jerusalem. This leaves me wondering perhaps there something behind these things. There may be unrevealed secrets in our National Flag and Anthem and they are spoken through symbols. Like what Pierre Plantard said “Everything is found in symbolic form. Whoever knows how to interpret the hidden meaning will understand.” I do believe that the Philippine flag encrypts spiritual truths if not the mystical side of the Philippines. I remember once in a book by Jaime Licauco the famous psychic who wrote something like that in his investigations or research psychics, occultists or their like increases their power most when they are in the Philippines than in any other countries. Even the late famous Nick Joaquin wrote in comparison that the Tower of Babel was in the Philippines

because of the fact that there are many spoken dialects in the Philippines. Some others claimed that the Philippines is a remnant of that advanced lost civilization of Lemuria. As a joke, I do believe that is true. If the Americans can fly their planes without a pilot, here in the Philippines it is the pilot who flies even at the full moon light. In the present state of the Philippines, it is but a sigh of relief, if ever these be true (not the joke above) about the Philippine flag and the National Anthem. The world longs for a liberator. The Americans found their hope and their yearned for change in the person of Pres. Barack Obama. As the name suggest Barack is a variation of the Hebrew word “ brakha” which means “blessing” or “berekh” which means “ bless.” The Jews still expects their longed for Messiah, actually, they are expecting two Messiahs. The Muslims are expecting their Imam Mahdi,; the Buddhists for their Lord Maitreya- the friend of mankind; while the Hindus are expecting the tenth avatar Kalki. The great theosophist Mdm. H.P. Blavatsky even hinted that the Messiah will appear in the east. The Book of Mormons says he will come from an isle of the sea in the east. Yet here we are Filipinos deeply embedded in our flag and spirited out in our National Anthem is the occult and spiritual secret of the coming Filipino Messiah. If the flag represents the crucified Christ then the one expected Child of the sun returning, is none other than Jesus Christ himself! He is the hope of the poor and the oppressed; the yearned for being of the discontented middleclass longing for change; and I think the nightmare of those who corrupt the Philippines, land dear and holy. Still I wanted to view these absurd things in a more positive way. However beautiful and comforting the thought maybe (that the crucified Christ is in our flag, maybe that is why we are the only Christian nation in Asia and the most corrupt) it also despairs me for some consequences. Then, in the right side which is the color blue represents the repentant thief while the left side is the arrogant one. My mind sees the Filipino Messiah—a benevolent representative of God likewise suffering the same fate of Jesus Christ long ago—charged with inciting to rebellion for making moral changes and imputed with corruption by crucifying with two thieves. I have never seen so large a flag like the one showed on TV when they make features in the Senate. But sometimes I wonder if any one of them knows the Philippine Flag symbolically. There are only two factions of them-- blues and the reds. And there are only four members of them who are not billionaires. However, in these turn of things I would like to see in our Philippine flag not the crucified Christ but the risen Christ with hands outstretched to heaven. This makes them wary for what they do, instead of the hanging Christ which implies they are the ones crucifying him. Thus, the Filipino Christ is probably Juan de la Cruz or John Cross, although not Jesus but John. This reminds us the first name of the Philippines given by the Spaniards—Archipelago of St. Lazarus—from the name person resurrected by Jesus Christ from the dead. But be that as it may I longed for the One who will redeem the Filipino people and the nation. It is but a flicker of hope to believe that Jose Rizal never died because he was seen ordering a coffee at a restaurant at the time of his execution. That Andres Bonifacio was never executed because his remains were never found. These great souls died for the motherland “dear and holy.” Only then until recently another one came but then laid his life for the people—Ninoy Aquino. Sometimes I fancy if the Filipinos were like the Jews.

There is still hope for the nation. The people must learn to recognize its own. And for all of these wishful and fancy thinking, I like, the ancient Christians do, hope and pray for the speedy haste of the Redeemer, Maranatha! Our Lord Come!