Posts Tagged ‘visayas’

The current national Philippine flag today is just a mere derivative flag from the Philippine flags that precedes it. Long before it was wave on General Emilio Aguinaldo’s balcony on 1898, its predecessors already made a mark to some Filipinos who love their countries.

The very first Flag of the Philippines that has been created is said to be the flag of Andres Bonifacio. It is the flag of their Secret Society named Katipunan, which has an acronym of three Ks or KKK. These three Ks stands for Kataas-taasang Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or in English word Highest and Most Honorable Society of the Sons of the Nation.

This very first Philippine flag is in full red color with the three Ks on white color on the center of the red flag. You can google the image of this flag to see for yourself what it looks like. This KKK flag was made by Andres Bonifacio’s wife Gregoria De Jesus and Benita Rodriguez.

This Flag of the Philippines have variations that is some put the three Ks in a horizontal position, some in triangular form and some one large K only.

Another distinct variation of this flag is the flag of General Mariano Llanera. His version is of black background with one K on the left side and a skull above a two cross bones on the right.

This first Philippine flag has gone many revisions, variations and versions until it reach the present day flag of the Philippines.

There are variations with the three Ks but with an image of a sun above them but with red as background; there is a version with a white triangle lying down horizontally on the left corner or an equilateral triangle and within this white triangle are the three Ks spread on the three corners of the triangle, while on its center is the image of a rising sun behind a mountain, this version was said to be created by General Pio del Pilar; some version of the Philippine flag is the one called the Sun of Liberty of the Naic Assembly whose only image on the red flag is the image of a sun with a face on it without the three Ks.

Another variation is the Magdalo flag. This flag has only an image of the sun on the center which one letter K at the center of the sun. The letter K here is written on the ancient Filipino alphabet.

However, on the Battle of Tirad Pass and Pasong Balite, General Gregorio Del Pilar introduce a new flag with a striking resemblance of a Cuban flag. But this flag of General Gregorio Del Pilar was not at all sensationalized by Filipinos because of it resemblance to a Cuban flag.

But on 1898, while on exile at Hong Kong, Emilio Aguinaldo made another banner flag. This time the flag have a freemasonry triangle symbol with three stars on the corners and a sun with a face or a mythical sun on the center, Which according to him, the eight rays of the sun represents the eight provinces that revolted against the Spanish ruling, namely Manila Philippines, Pampanga Philippines, Cavite Philippines, Bulacan Philippines, Nueva Ecija Philippines, Bataan Philippines, Laguna Philippines, and Batangas Philippines. While the three stars represents: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

And this flag was wave at General Emilio Aguinaldo’s balcony, and also this flag of the Philippines was revised by former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon by removing the face on the sun. Thus revised version has now become the current flag of the Philippines. It is now the accepted Philippine flag.

Palawan Philippines, the Last Frontier?

Why Palawan Philippines is called the last frontier of the Philippine archipelago? Probably, because of its most protected and preserved areas. Such as the Calauit Game Preserve and Wild life Sanctuary where you could find exotic African animals and some endangered endemic native animals of Palawan. However, you could still visit this place only of course with a tourist guide and consent of local government. Aside from this wild life sanctuary, you could see the seven lakes at Coron Bay, Busuanga Islands at Coron Reefs where it is surrounded with craggy limestone cliffs.

Perhaps, the most famous beach resort at Palawan Philippines is the El Nido Beach Resort, however, just like the protected ecological sites we have mentioned above, this resort is also protected. It protects the giant clam garden and the endangered Philippine cockatoo. The giant clam garden are large marine life on the shallow coral reefs of the shore, this marine life are called clam.

El Nido Palawan Philippines is the largest marine sanctuary in the entire Philippines for it comprises limestone cliffs, five types of forest (namely, the lowland evergreen rainforests, the semi-deciduous forests, the forests over limestone, the beach forests, and the mangrove forests), fifty white sand beaches you could choose, three major marine habitats, sixteen endemic and ten endangered species of birds, six species of marine mammals including dolphins and the native “dugong”, four species of endangered marine turtles ( namely, hawksbill turtle, olive ridley turtle, leatherback turtles, and the green sea turtles), one hundred species of corals, eight hundred thirteen species of fish, the Palawan Spiny Rat, the Palawan Tree Shrew, the Palawan Anteater, the Northern Palawan Tree Squirrel, and the Palawan Stink Badger.

The beach resorts you could found at El Nido Palawan are: (1) the Miniloc Island Resort, where you could see a peaceful turquoise-green waters with a backdrop of limestone cliffs. (2) the Lagen Island resort, (3) the Pangalusian Island, (4) the Vigan Island resort, which is also called the as the “Snake Island,” because of its fine natural sand spit (the s-shaped sandbar), (5) the Secret Beach at Matinloc Island and,(6) as well as the Kulasa Beach at Matinloc Island also.

Aside from what we mentioned above there is also another protected area in Palawan Philippines, the Malampaya Sound Land and Seascape, where you could see the bottle nosed irrawaddy dolphins.

By the way, Palawan Philippines is an island province at the Visayas region of the Philippines. How to get to Palawan? You could fly from Manila Philippines into its capital – the Puerto Prinsesa city and from the main capital city do a land travel to the destination you wanted to go at Palawan, however, you should ride a boat going to the Beach islands, for example, of El Nido’ s beach islands.

Palawan Philippines is indeed the last frontier of the Philippines because of its protected areas which, of course, the Philippine government should do because of Palawan’s rare natural treasuries which the Philippines can be proud of. It is indeed an ecological tourist destination a tourist should visit.