Hello Bill... I was very happy when I saw that you had joined this forum... I had planned on telling you this immediately and answering most of your posts, but.... you know how things are ;D ... I got carried away with other affairs
anyways.....
Masonry played an important role in the design of the Philippine flag and most other symbols and insignia adopted by the Katipunan and later the 1st Republic. From the earliest Propagandists such as Jose Rizal to the first President Emilio Aguinaldo, these Founding Fathers were zealous masonic partisans. In one of Aguinaldo's speeches delivered after the Revolution, he said; "The successful Revolution of 1896 was masonically inspired, masonically led, and masonically executed.
As far as I know the only name known for the sun is the "mythological sun" and during the entire Revolutionary period it was depicted with eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth, bearing anywhere from eight to forty six rays.
The triangle is the loftiest and most sublime symbol of masonry in the days of the Revolution was the equilateral triangle. The masonic ritual called it the most perfect figure that could be drawn with lines and regarded it as an appropriate emblem of perfection or divinity.
Felipe Calderon, writing with an anti-masonic tone, said in his Memoirs:
"It is not a secret to any person that one of the causes of the Philippine insurrection against Spain, ... was the animosity of the people ... against the religious corporations .... As a result of this animosity against the religious corporations, a tendency which we might call anti-Catholic developed in certain organizations and individuals of the Revolution so that masonry considered the insurrection, and therefore also the revolution , as it own work and even put the triangle in the Filipino flag. As I have already said, this was an evil that had a noxious influence upon the entire body of the Revolution, because Mabini and its followers considered every mason as qualified to carry out any undertaking, and at that time membership in a masonic lodge was the best recommendation a man could possess."
Aguinaldo when explaining the meaning of the National flag's elements stressed:
"The white triangle represents the distinctive emblem of the famous Katipunan Society, which means of its blood compact suggested to the masses the urgency of insurrection, the three stars represented the three principal islands of the Archipelago, Luzon, Mindanao and Panay, wherein this revolutionary movement broke out: the sun represents the gigantic strides that have been made by the sons of this land on the road to progress and civilization: its eight rays symbolize the eight provinces: Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna and Batangas, which were declared in a state of war almost as soon as the first revolutionary movement was initiated; and the colours blue, red and white, commemorate those of the flag of the United States of North America in manifestation of our profound gratitude towards that great nation for the disinterested protection she is extending to us and will continue to extend to us. "
In a speech before the Malolos Congress, Aguinaldo added the following nationalistic interpretation of the meaning of the three colours of the flag:
"Behold this banner with three colours, three stars and a sun, all of which have the following meaning: the red signifies the bravery of the Filipinos which is second to none, a colour that was first used by the revolutionists of the province of Cavite on the 31st of August 1896, until peace reigned with the truce of Biak-na-Bato. The blue signifies that whoever will attempt enslave the Filipinos will have to eradicate them first before they give way. The white signifies that the Filipinos are capable of self-government like other nations… The three stars with five points signify the islands of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao…And, lastly, the eight rays of the rising sun signify the eight provinces of Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Morong, Laguna, Batangas and Cavite where martial law was declared. These are the provinces which give light to the Archipelago and dissipated the shadows that wrapped her… By the light of the sun, the Aetas, the Igorots, the Mangyans, and the Moslems are now descending from the mountains, and all of them I recognize as my brothers."
Further explanation was supplied by a letter, dated 6 September 1926, from Carlos Ronquillo, the then private secretary of Aguinaldo, addressed to Emmanuel A. Baja.
"The sun I am referring to ... was the mythological sun with eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. It was not the artistic one nor the Japanese sun. It was the same sun which appears on the flag of some South American Republics. And I can assure you of this because I drew the design myself by order and instruction of the President, General Aguinaldo. "
