Congress approves inclusion of Philippine Flag's ninth ray

Manila: The Philippine Congress has scheduled the approval of a bill that calls for the inclusion of a ninth ray in the sun of the Philippine flag to represent the Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, a senator said.

"The bill will be passed soon because the bicameral committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives have approved on Tuesday the bill that called for the amendment of the Flag and heraldic Code of the Philippines," Senator Richard Gordon said.

The Philippine flag's eight rays of the sun represent Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas that led the uprising against the Spanish who came in 1521 and were ousted by a Philippine revolution in 1898.

"This is a great step in recognising Filipino-Muslim heroes such as Lapu-Lapu, Sultan Mohammad Dipatuan Kudarat, and Datu Amai Pakpak who fought the Spanish colonials when they first came to the Philippines in the 16th century," said Gordon, author of the bill.

"Our Muslim brothers were ahead in fighting the Spanish long before many Christian Filipinos thought of a revolution against Spain from 1896 to 1989," Gordon said.

On April 27, 1521, Lapu-Lapu killed Spanish leader Ferdinand Magellan who landed in Cebu, central Philippines, after circumnavigating the world. In his account of the incident in 1800, Spanish historian Antonio Pigafetta said that Lapu-Lapu refused to give up the body of Magellan after the latter's death.

Sultan Mohammad Dipatuan Kudarat repelled Spanish rule and hindred the spread of Christianisation in Maguindanao province in the south 80 years after the Spanish rule began in 1521. He descended from Shariff Kabungsuan, a Muslim missionary who brought Islam to the Philippines between the 13th and 14th century. He was born in 1581 and died in 1671. Sultan Kudarat is now a name of a province in Mindanao.

When the Spanish forces occupied Parang, Marawi in 1889, Datu Amai Pakpak led forces that weakened the Spaniards in 1891, a resistance that lasted until he died fighting 5,000 Spanish troops in 1895.

"When I filed the bill," Gordon said, "my mission was to acknowledge the courage, bravery and integrity of Filipino Muslims who fought for Philippine independence as early as the 16th century, and continued resisting colonial rules up to the 19th century."