IV
GUBAT DGTI PILIPINO KEN KAKASTILA
future. Onr flag was first designed in the very field of battle, when the fate of the Filipino people depended upon the success of their arms. 'vVe have only one Filipino Flag. because we have only one Motherland and only one ideal. Before it reached its present form, however, it went through evolutions as varied as the incidents of our struggles for freedom. The men and women of tJ]e younger generation do well in learning by heart, as a solemn duty of citizenship, the lessons these struggles teach. The first appearanee of "THE PHILIPPINE FLAG" took place in the days of the KaLipunan when Andres Bonifacio and his hosts rose in ",indication of the rights of the Filipino p~ople. In the center of the "SUN", which symbolizes the da.wni1'1g oli: a new 1'1ation, was the letter "K" which signifies "KALAYAAN OR LIBERTY". With that flag and under its 'oIds fell the first martyrs of our "INDEPENDENCE". That flag Woudly waved from the highest peaks of "BIAKNABATO", the la~t stronghold of the Katipunan. When it was hauled down in Decemoer, 1897. it was, never again, hoisted . But its disappearance was only nominal, for with the signing of the "PACT OF BIAKNABATO" the belligerency of the revolution was officially recognized. The "FILIPINO FLAG" assl1med its second form and made its next appearance when Aguinaldo returned from Hongkong. The appeal to arms was renewed, and the theater of conflict extended. The new flag, with the "SUN" as in the original, and made still more symbolic of the cOllntry it representcd by the addition of "THH_EE STARS", was triumphantly carried from battle to battle, throughout the length and breadth of our land. It witnessed the inaugtlration and the splendor of the "PHI~IPPINE REPUBLIC", became the prbud ensign of its short-lived