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While in forced exile abroad, one of the first tasks of the founding fathers of the aspiring new nation was the preparation of the symbols of state - a new flag and a new anthem. They decided to have a new common flag to use in another attempt at independence. This new flag would not have the stigma of disunity of the previous war standards, and it would symbolize the common aspirations for freedom.

 The design of the new flag was decided by General Emilio Aguinaldo and the other leaders after a great deal of discussion and study. The sketch was submitted to Mrs. Marcela Mariño de Agoncillo, who was living with her husband Don Felipe Agoncillo at No. 535 Morrison Hill Road, Hong Kong, where the other exiles lived. This patriotic woman was requested by General Aguinaldo to make the flag because of her skill in sewing, which she acquired from her hometown of Lipa, Batangas and her student days at the Colegio de Santa Catalina, Manila.

 Happy with the thought that she was doing something important for her fatherland, Mrs. Agoncillo immediately worked on the flag. She was assisted by two other women - her daughter Lorenza and Mrs. Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, a niece of Dr. Jose Rizal, the martyred hero.

 The women skillfully cut the triangle, the stars, the sun, and stripes out of the finest silk cloth bought from a Hong Kong department store. Many times, she said their patience was taxed to the limit, for they had to rip what had already been sewn. "simply because a ray was crooked, or because the stars were not exactly equidistant."

 The new National flag was called "The Sun and Stars." It took the three women five days to finish the flag. It was personally handed to Aguinaldo by Mrs. Agoncillo before he boarded the American transport ship McCulloch to return to the Philippines on May 19, 1898.

 The simple yet classic design of the flag showed the best of the Filipinos and their deepest yearnings for their country: The National Flag had a white triangle at the left containing a sunburst with eight rays at the center, a five-pointed star at each angle of the triangle, an upper stripe of dark blue, and lower stripe of red. The white triangle stood for their hope for equality; the blue color stood for peace, truth and justice; and the red stood for patriotism and valor. The sunburst of eight rays represented the first eight provinces to take up arms against Spain - Manila, Laguna, Pampanga, Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bantangas, and Tarlac, and the three stars symbolized Luzon , the Visayas and Mindanao. In times of peace, the blue stripe is uppermost, but when the nation is at war, the red stripe is on top.

Between four and five o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, June 12, 1898, the rites of freedom took place. An historic document, the Act of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence, written by Judge Advocate Rianzares Bautista, was read from the balcony of Don Emilio Aguinaldo's house. After the reading of the proclamation the new National Flag - the glorious "Sun and Stars " - was formally unfurled to the tune of the San Francisco de Malabon Band playing "Himno Nacional Filipino," which in time became the Philippine National Anthem.

The National Anthem of the Republic of the Philippines

 The Philippine National Anthem was composed by Julian Felipe, a Filipino music teacher and composer of Cavite. He finished it on June 11, 1898, and showed it to General Aguinaldo, who instantly liked it because of its stirring melody. The following day the music band of San Francisco de Malabon played it for the first time during the unfurling of the Filipino flag at Kawit during the Independence Day ceremony.

 For more than a year the anthem remained without words. Towards the end of August of 1899, a young poet-soldier named Jose Palma wrote the poem entitled Filipinas. This poem expressed in elegant Spanish verses the ardent patriotism and fighting spirit of the Filipino people. It became the words of the anthem and today the anthem is sung in Pilipino, its official lyrics translated by Felipe de Leon, from the original Spanish lyrics in the early 1900s. There are also English translations, thought by many to be inaccurate, due to the fact that some English versions were translated from the Tagalog version, and other English versions were translated from the original Spanish. One version was translated by Camilo Osias and A. L. Lane.