Our true colors

I wish President Aquino would show again his strong power to make things happen by getting Congress to amend Section 10 of Republic Act 91 to restore the prewar practice of displaying the flag with its blue field on the viewer’s right in time of peace when it is displayed vertically.

I have written about this matter many times before through the Inquirer and to the National Historical Commission (which referred my letter to Rep. Salvador Escudero III), but nothing has come out of it. I am 88 now and I’m afraid this matter will die a natural death when I and those of my generation who can still remember shall have faded away.

Just a short recap:

In 1936, President Manuel L. Quezon issued Executive Order No. 23 mandating that the flag be displayed with its blue field on top in time of peace, and with its red field on top in time of war.

The EO did not mention how the flag should be displayed vertically, but the practice in government offices, schools, the National Assembly, and the people in general was to just turn the horizontal flag clockwise to vertical. (Proof: On the façade of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s house in Kawit, Cavite, a national shrine, the vertical Philippine flag etched on the marker shows the blue field on the viewer’s right.) Thus, in peacetime, the blue field of a vertically displayed flag was on the viewer’s right; during the Pacific war (1941 to 1945), the red field was on the viewer’s right.

Long after the war ended, however, the wartime practice continued to be followed in government offices, schools, etc.

It was only in 1950 that President Elpidio Quirino, in EO 321, restored the blue field to the top of the flag in peacetime. But probably because Quezon in his EO made no mention of the vertical display of the flag, Quirino in his own EO did not restore the red field to its correct position. He must have thought the people would remember to turn the flag clockwise as before the war, if it was to be displayed vertically.

But the failure to change the position of the red field was understandable. There were many other matters that required government attention after the war. Thus, the red field of a vertically displayed flag continues to be at the viewer’s right in peacetime until today, without basis in law.

In 1998, RA 8491 was amended as follows to legalize the wrong practice:

“Section 10: The flag, if flown from a flagpole, shall have its blue field on top in time of peace and the red field on top in time of war; if in a hanging position, the blue field shall be to the right (left of the observer) in time of peace, and the red field to the right (left of the observer) in time of war.”

I suggest, therefore, that Section 10 be amended to correct the error by providing that to display the flag in a vertical position, it be simply turned clockwise from its normal position in time of peace or war. Then, the blue field would naturally be on the viewer’s right in peacetime and the red field on the viewer’s right in wartime.

While at it, I suggest that after proper consultations, the changing of the position of the blue and red fields in time of peace or war be deleted.

Sometime ago we read in the news about how our flag was incorrectly displayed in an official function in America because the hosts’ manuals showed the prewar way of vertically displaying our flag in time of peace.

We should always want our flag to show we want peace. To advertise our bravado by changing the position of the colors of our flag in wartime, while we do not have force to back it, as in the present conflict of interest with China, would be foolhardy.

Amado F. Cabaero is founder and past president of the Philippine Association of Retired Persons.