Aguinaldo kin honor PH flag used in 1898 freedom rites

HISTORIC BANNER With a wreath laid out outside this temperature-controlled room in their family museum in Baguio City, Emilio Aguinaldo Suntay, a great grandson of General Emilio Aguinaldo, honored the flag that his family believes is the banner hoisted at the declaration of Philippine Independence 127 years ago. — PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO MUSEUM

BAGUIO CITY — A deteriorating Philippine flag, which the great-grandchildren of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo have always asserted as the banner that was displayed on June 12, 1898, during the declaration of Philippine Independence, was given a wreath ceremony here on Thursday.

Emilio Aguinaldo Suntay, Aguinaldo’s great-grandson and namesake, said the 3 p.m. ceremony coincided with the hour his great-grandfather had unrolled, hoisted, and waved the flag at the family residence in Kawit, Cavite, 127 years ago.

Occasionally, the Baguio government invites Suntay as its guest speaker during its Independence Day ceremonies and has organized the program featuring what is arguably the country’s first flag, which is unique for its sun symbol, which bears a face.

But this year, the city government celebrated a modest Independence Day event at the Baguio Convention Center, and the flag stayed in seclusion at the Aguinaldo family museum on Happy Glen Loop here.

The fraying relic “is still alive but only barely” for its “127th birthday,” Suntay said.

It was discovered under Aguinaldo’s deathbed in 1964 by Suntay’s grandmother and the hero’s youngest daughter, Cristina.

She secretly brought the flag with her when her family moved to Baguio and publicly acknowledged its existence when she put up the General Emilio Aguinaldo Museum in 1985.

The original museum was a wooden structure that contained Aguinaldo’s wardrobe, his favorite work table, his chair and wheelchair and assorted documents which the first president of the Philippine Republic kept.

The flag, in its heyday, was displayed on a table at the time. It drew national prominence, as well as the curiosity of scholars, during the 1998 Philippine Centennial because of the sun’s face at the flag’s hoist and its lighter blue field. It has gold inscriptions—“Fuerzas Expedicionarias del Norte de Luzón” (Expeditionary Force of North Luzon) on one side and “Libertad” (liberty) and “Justicia” (justice) that run down the opposite side.

READ: The dates signifying Philippine Independence

Museum tour

But the fabric began to separate and open up holes in the banner. The museum was remodeled into an interactive tour facility, which contained a dimly lit viewing room that had temperature controls to protect the flag that was kept inside a specialized glass casing.

In separate rooms that guests can visit during the tour are Aguinaldo’s battle flag, which features stars that also have faces, as well as the battle flag of General Gregorio del Pilar.

Suntay, his sister Nenita Tadeno, and an even younger generation of Aguinaldo descendants are the custodians of the first Philippine flag.

In 2022, Suntay said conventional technology could no longer extend the relic’s lifespan and has encouraged people to visit the flag while it lasts.

In a speech he gave on Thursday, Suntay said the first flag remains a rallying symbol against the global turmoil that still affects the Philippines, particularly the internal and external strife that appears to “undermine” the country today.

“Currently, war and strife have engulfed major regions of the world [and] many countries have taken sides,” he said.

Suntay added: “The Philippines is likewise divided between its two highest leaders, almost threatening to plunge us into civil strife,” which seems to mirror the struggles of “its former colonial master,” the United States.

Back in 1950, during that year’s Independence Day celebrations that was attended by Aguinaldo, then President Elpidio Quirino also spoke out against “external and internal forces … that threaten to demoralize the people,” he said, citing a 1950 newspaper clipping that his great-grandfather kept.

In both periods, people tend to believe “our independence is incomplete or wanting,” Suntay said.