---
title: "Flag of Philippines: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the Philippines flag stands for, its official 1:2 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/philippines/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The flag of Philippines

**The flag of Philippines: A blue band over a red band, with a white equilateral triangle at the hoist bearing a golden sun with eight rays and three gold five-pointed stars, one at each corner.**

Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1898

*[Flag drawn on the page: Philippines]*

The Philippines is the only country that deliberately flies its flag upside down: in wartime the red band goes on top, and the constitution says so explicitly. This has happened in practice — the flag was displayed inverted at a 2010 ASEAN meeting in New York, causing a diplomatic incident that the Philippine government treated as an error rather than a declaration. The design was sewn in Hong Kong in 1898 by Marcela Agoncillo and first raised at Kawit in June that year. The blue shade has been changed by law five times, most recently in 1998 to a royal blue.

## Flags it gets confused with

*[Flag drawn on the page: Philippines, Czechia]*

*Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.*

| Flag | How to tell them apart |
| --- | --- |
| Czechia | Czechia has a blue triangle on white over red, with no sun or stars. |

## What the colours mean

*Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.*

- **Blue** (#0038A8) — Peace, truth and justice
- **Red** (#CE1126) — Patriotism and valour
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — Equality and fraternity
- **Gold** (#FCD116) — The sun and stars

## The symbols on it

| What | What it stands for |
| --- | --- |
| Eight-rayed sun | The first eight provinces to revolt against Spain in 1896 |
| Three stars | Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao |

- **Ratio:** 1:2
- **Current design adopted:** 1898
- **Colours:** blue, red, white, gold

## Common questions

### What does the flag of Philippines look like?

A blue band over a red band, with a white equilateral triangle at the hoist bearing a golden sun with eight rays and three gold five-pointed stars, one at each corner.

### What do the colours of the Philippines flag mean?

Blue: peace, truth and justice. Red: patriotism and valour. White: equality and fraternity. Gold: the sun and stars.

### How do you tell the Philippines flag from the Czechia one?

Czechia has a blue triangle on white over red, with no sun or stars.

### When was the Philippines flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1898, and its official ratio is 1:2.

## Related pages

- [Philippines](https://atoneplace.net/country/philippines/)
- [The flag of Czechia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/czechia/)
- [Every flag with blue in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/blue/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [The flag of India](https://atoneplace.net/flag/india/)
- [The flag of United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-kingdom/)
- [The flag of France](https://atoneplace.net/flag/france/)
- [The flag of Russia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/russia/)
- [The flag of Brazil](https://atoneplace.net/flag/brazil/)
- [The flag of Australia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/australia/)
- [The flag of South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/flag/south-korea/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]