Philippinen flag 10 x 15 cm

The Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), commonly known as the Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, sharing maritime borders with Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam. The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country with a population of about 91 million people. Its national economy is the 39th largest in the world with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$181.523 billion. There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines. Ecologically, Philippines is considered to be among 17 of the most megadiverse countries in the world.

Prior to the arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521, the Philippines were inhabited by Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) peoples, who traded with other Asian peoples such as those from China, India, Japan, and the Malay Archipelago. The Philippines became a Spanish colony in the 16th century, administered under the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) and an American territory at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1896, Katipunan led the Philippine Revolution that gained independence from Spain. American occupation of the Philippines during the Spanish-American War led to the outbreak of the Philippine-American War. A Commonwealth government were established in 1935, which allowed self-governance. The Philippines achieved its independence from the United States on July 4, 1946 after the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War. Martial law was declared in 1972 by Ferdinand Marcos, which led to the insurgencies of the New People's Army and the Moro National Liberation Front. Ninoy Aquino's assassination would soon inspire his widow, Corazon Aquino, as well as the country's former Roman Catholic priest Jaime Cardinal Sin to lead the People Power Revolution of 1986, which would bring the Philippines back to democracy.

Modern Philippines has many affinities with the Western world, derived mainly from the cultures of Spain, Latin America, and the United States. Roman Catholicism is the country's predominant religion, although pre-Hispanic indigenous religious practices still exist; there are also followers of Buddhism Hinduism and Islam. Spanish was an official language of the Philippines until 1973. Since then, the two official languages are Filipino and English.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

The national flag of the Philippines is a horizontal bicolor with equal bands of blue and red, and with a white equilateral triangle based at the hoist side; in the center of the triangle is a golden yellow sun with eight primary rays, each containing three individual rays; and at each corner of the triangle is a five-pointed golden yellow star. The flag is displayed with the blue field on top in times of peace, and with the red field on top in times of war.

The flag was first conceptualized by General Emilio Aguinaldo in 1897 during his exile in Hong Kong, drawing inspiration from the flags used by the Katipunan and the Cuban revolutionaries. The first flag was sewn by Marcela Agoncillo, her daughter Lorenza, and Doña Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, niece of José Rizal, the Philippines' national hero. Act 1696, known as the Flag Law, was passed on September 6, 1907. This law proscribed the Philippine flag and banned the use of the Philippine national anthem. In 1919, Senator Rafael Palma sponsored the Senate Bill No. 1, a bill repealing the Flag Law of 1907 following Gov. Gen. Francis Harrison’s recommendation that the law should be repealed since the distrust between the Filipinos and the Americans no longer exists. On 24 October 1919, Act No. 2871 was approved and signed by Gen. Harrison; thus, the Flag Law of 1907 was repealed.

The flag is horizontally divided into two fundamental colors, royal blue and scarlet red, with a white equilateral triangle based at the hoist side. At the center of the triangle is a golden yellow sun with eight primary rays, each containing three individual rays, and at each corner of the triangle is a five-pointed golden yellow star. The flag is displayed with the blue field on top in time of peace, and with the red field on top in time of war.

The flag's length is twice its width, which translates into an aspect ratio of 1:2. The sides of the white triangle are equal to the width of the flag. Each star is oriented such that it points towards the tip of the vertex at which it is located.

The Philippine flag is unique in the sense that it can indicate a state of war when the red field is displayed on top, or on the observer's left when the flag is displayed vertically, with the white equilateral triangle at the top end.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Philippines