Official Philippine National Symbols

Posted by Ian Galliguez in News | 0 comments

On the news last night was a special news report on TV Patrol regarding the common man’s perception of what the national symbols are. Kabayan Noli de Castro raised a good point by asking if we, the common pinoy, know what our national symbols are because it is “nakagisnan na” (what was taught and we are used to it) or because we really know what they are. Interestingly enough, I didn’t know that we needed a Presidential proclamation for any item to be considered and called a national symbol.

Currently, these are the things that are popularly (and mistakenly) considered as national symbols.

National Anthem: Lupang Hinirang
National Flower: Sampaguita
National Costume: Barong Tagalog & Baro’t Saya
National Dance: Cariniosa (Actually it is Tinikling)
National Bird: Philippine Eagle
National Hero: Dr. Jose Rizal (Still unofficial)
National Animal: Tamaraw(Still unofficial)
National Fish: Bangus (Still unofficial)
National Tree: Narra
National Sport: Sipa (It’s actually Arnis now)

What’s funny is that the official national flag, seal, motto and anthem were only made…well, official back in 1998 via Republic Act 8491. You can see the complete list on Wikipedia.

And did you know that we actually have a pledge of allegiance to the flag?

I thought that this was an excellent piece of intelligent, educational and appropriate news reporting. It’s nice to see that the producers are actually changing the news. Kudos to TV Patrol!