Philippines

The flag of the Philippines is a horizontal bicolour with the colour blue at the top of the flag and the colour red at the bottom of the flag. At the hoist of the flag is a white triangle inside which sits a yellow sun with eight rays and three yellow five-pointed stars. The sun's eight rays stand for the eight provinces that revolted against the Spanish whilst the flag's three stars represent the three main island groups of the country - Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas. The flag's colours of blue, red and white are said to stand for patriotism, bravery and purity respectively.

The Philippines was a Spanish colony until 1898 when it was ceded to the USA. This flag design was first used by Filipino nationalists during Spanish rule but was flown more freely from 1898 when the USA took control of the colony (the flag was; however, banned by the USA from 1907-1919). The Philippines gained full independence on 4 July 1946.

The current flag of the Philippines was officially adopted as the country's national flag on 26 March 1920, with some minor changes made since.

The flag's ratio is 1:2.

The flag of the Philippines flies