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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, June 12, 2017
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ILOILO City – The Philippine flag will be raised at two historic sites in this city and Iloilo province today as Ilonggos mark the 119th anniversary of Philippine independence.
The Iloilo City government will hold a flag-raising ceremony at Plaza Libertad – site of the first raising of the Philippine flag in Panay Island on Dec. 25, 1898 after the Spaniards surrendered to local revolutionaries led by General Martin Delgado.
Plaza Libertad was declared a national historical landmark on Nov. 17, 2003, with the unveiling of a marker by the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines).
The plaza was formerly called Plaza Alfonso XII in honor of the King of Spain from 1874 to 1885.
In Iloilo province, the flag will be raised at the public plaza of Santa Barbara town, site of the first raising of the Philippine flag outside Luzon on Nov. 17, 1898 five months after General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898.
This pioneering revolutionary act led by General Delgado in the Visayas and Mindanao is now known as “The Cry of Santa Barbara.”
This hoisting of the Philippine flag also marked the inauguration of the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas.
“That event in Santa Barbara symbolized our collective struggle for freedom,” said Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
On Nov. 18, 2015 the National Historical Commission of the Philippines ordered that a giant Philippine flag at the public plaza of Santa Barbara town be flown “in perpetuity.”
The Commission included Santa Barbara plaza “among the select places where the flag shall be permanently hoisted.”
The flag measures 30 ft. x 60 ft. while the flagpole stands at 120 ft.
“May the flag constantly reminds us of our sublime duty to honor the sacrifices our heroes made to unite the nation, to defend the liberty of our motherland from foreign aggression, to uphold justice, equality and the rule of the law…,” said NCHP executive director Ludovico Badoy.
Defensor described the Philippine flag in Santa Barbara as a symbol of the heroism of General Delgado and of the Filipino people “in their search and fight for freedom and democracy.”
After the 1898 raising of the Philippine flag, Santa Barbara became the headquarters of the local revolutionary forces against Spain and from there, General Delgado launched the campaign to liberate Iloilo./PN
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