PILIPINAS
The Presidential Seal
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PRECEDING THE
SEAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES ARE THE heraldic emblems of the Kings of Spain, being the
sovereigns of the Spanish East Indies, and the seal of the President of the
United States who was the head of state of the empire protecting the
Government of the Philippines after 1902. The arms of the King of Spain have undergone
several changes after the arms of the first king owning the Philipine
archipelago, King Philip II. The arms were always multi-quartered and
surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Fleece of which the Spanish king
was the grandmaster. On the arms was a single crested helmet or several
helmets when the arms were symbolizing the supreme command of the King. They
were crowned when symbolizing the king as the head of state. In the time of the Provisional Government of
1868-’70 and the Republic of 1873-‘74 the dynastic arms in the center were
omitted. The arms of the King of Spain will be dealt with
in the chapter about Spain. |
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The arms of the last kings in possession of the
Philippines were: Arms: Quarterly of
Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarra, enté en point of Granada and with an
escucheon Bourbon. Order: The collar and
Fleece of the Order of the Fleece (Spanish branch) Mantle:
Purpure, fringed and tasseled Or,
crowned with the royal crown of Spain.
Royal Spanish Arms in the
time of Spanish Rule in the Philippines. (Alphonso XII, 1874-1885) |
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A seal for the President of the United States is in use since 1783. In the course of time it had different shapes.
Presidential Seal of the
United States, 1912-1959 In 1945 it was ordered that “the Coat of Arms
of the President of the United States shall be of the following design: SHIELD: Paleways of
thirteen pieces Argent and Gules, a chief Azure; upon the breast of an
American eagle displayed holding in his dexter talon an olive branch and in
his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows all Proper, and in his beak a White
scroll inscribed “E PLURIBUS UNUM” Sable. CREST: Behind and
above the eagle a radiating glory Or, on which appears an arc of thirteen
cloud puffs Proper, and a constellation of thirteen mullets Argent. The whole surrounded
by white stars arrange in the form of an annulet with one point of each star
outward on the imaginary radiating center lines, the number of stars
conforming to the number of stars in the union of the Flag of the United
States as established by act of Congress, approved April 4, 1818, 3 Stat.
415. The Seal of the
President of the United States shall consist of the Coat of Arms encircled by
the words “Seal of the President of the United States.” |
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Presidents of the
Philippines
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It is not known if Emilio Aguinaldo actually
used a seal for himself. On his portrait he is accompanied by the national
coat of arms encircled by a garland and placed on a disc. As there is no
legend we cannot be sure if this is meant to be the presidential seal or just
the national emblem. The Governors General of the Philippines of American
rule, as far as known, did not use a coat of arms or a seal but had a flag as
a mark of distinction. This showed a party per fess, the chief paly of
thirteen Argent and Gules and a base Azure a sea-lion Argent.
A High
Commissioner to the Philippines was created by the Tydings-McDuffie Act
of 1934. He was the personal representative of the President of the United
States to the Commonwealth of the Philippines during the period 1935-’42 /
1945-’46.. For the office a coat of arms, seal and flag
were adopted. The coat of arms showed the blazon of the
flag of the former Governor General, crested of the American Eagle. The coat of arms was the main charge of the
Seal of the High Commissioner consisting of an oval shield with the legend: UNITED STATES HIGH COMMISIONER
TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
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The flag showed the seal in full color
between four five-pointed stars in the corners on a blue, golden fringed
cloth.[1]
With the inauguration of the autonomous Commonwealth of the Philippines
(1935), a flag was also adopted for President Manuel L. Quezon. This
consisted of a blue cloth and the full
new achievement of the Commonwealth between four five-pointed yellow stars in
the corners. No presidential flag or seal is known from
the time of the second republic. |
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A Presidential Seal was adopted in 1947 after the gaining of independence
in 1946. The use of the Presidential Seal is solely for and
by the highest magistrate of the land. The Presidential Seal closely follows U.S.A.
usage and the redaction of the Law imitates the redaction of the American Law
concerning the Presidential Seal. The emblem on it however, is not a version
of the actual National Arms but is an adaption of the emblem on the former
national seals of 1899 and 1943.
Presidential seal, 1947 The seal was first used by President Manuel
Roxas in 1947. It was patterned after the Seal of the President of the United
States which in turn was patterned after the Great Seal of the United States,
and designed by Captain Galo Ocampo of the Philippine Heraldry Committee, the
designer of the Coat of Arms of the Philippines. The seal was officially
adopted on January 7, 1947, when Executive Order No. 38 of 1947 was ratified.
The law describes the seal as follows: SECTION 1. The coat of arms of the President of the Philippines shall be of
the following design: SHIELD: the eight-rayed Philippine sun rayonnant; on the center an
equilateral triangle in gules; over-all the traditional lion (ultramar) of
the ancient or original coat of arms of the City of Manila on guard with
sword or at hilt; on three points of triangle three mullets SEC. 2. The seal of
the President of the Philippines shall consist of the coat of arms of the
President of the Philippines encircled by the words ‘Seal of the President of
the Philippines’. |
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In 1951 the colors of seal were laid down and
a circle of stars, the number of which should be according to the number of
provinces, was added.
Presidential Seal with 49
stars On July 4, 1951, President Elpidio Quirino,
signed Executive Order No. 451 into law prescribing that: ...the
color of the sun and the sea lion shall be in golden yellow and, additionally
provide that the design shall be surrounded by stars forming an annulet in a
number equivalent to the number of provinces of the Republic as of 04 July
1951. ” At the time of signing, the Philippines had
52 provinces. |
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Presidential seal with 55 stars |
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The text SEAL
OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES was changed to SAGISAG NG PANGULO NG
PILIPINAS prior to
the Marcos revision:
Presidential seal
with 65 stars and legend in Filipino. |
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Presidential seal with 73
stars Under the government of President Corazon C.
Aquino (1986-1992), the seal was more or less restored to the Galo Ocampo
original but with Filipino text. |
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On August 27, 1998, President Joseph Estrada
(1998-2001) signed Executive Order No. 19, amending Executive Orders No. 38
of 1947, as amended, in view of the fact that since July 4, the number of
provinces has increased to 78 and that there is a need to continuously change
the number of stars in the amulet to match the number of provinces in the
country at a given time. After Estrada’s Executive Order came into
law, Roxas’s Executive Order read: Section 1. The Coat of Arms of the
President of the Philippines shall be of the following design: Shield: the
eight-rayed Philippine sun rayonnant in golden yellow; on the center, an
equilateral triangle in gules (red); overall the traditional sea lion of the
Coat of Arms granted to the City of Manila in 1596, on guard with sword, or
at hilt and one mullet in golden yellow in the corner of each of the three
angles of the equilateral triangle: one mullet representing Luzon; one,
Visayas; and another, Mindanao. The whole,
surrounded by stars in the form of an annulet with one point of each star
outward on the imaginary radiating center lines, the number of stars
conforming to the number of provinces of the Republic at any given time. |
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The Present Seal 2004 |
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Presidential seal with 79
stars On the actual seal is the coat-of-arms of the President, which, according to Executive Order
No. 310 of 2004 consists of: |
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“A circular blue shield with an
eight-rayed golden-yellow Philippine sun at the center. Overlapping the
Philippine sun is a red equilateral triangle. Inside and at the center of the
equilateral triangle is the traditional golden-yellow sea lion (Utramar) of
the Coat-Of-Arms granted to the City of Manila in 1596, on guard with a sword
on its right paw, at hilt. Inside and at the
corner of each of the three (3) angles of the equilateral triangle, a
five-pointed golden-yellow star to represent Luzón, Visayas, and Mindanao,
respectively. The elements
enumerated above are encircled at the outer edge of the blue shield by
five-pointed golden-yellow stars, with one point of each star pointing
outward on the imaginary radiating center lines, the number of stars
conforming to the number of provinces of the Republic of the Philippines at
any given time.” |
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The Executive Order also stipulates that: “The Seal of the
President of the Philippines shall consist of the Coat-of-Arms of the
President of the Philippines, and a white circle around the Coat-of-Arms
enclosed by two (2) golden-yellow marginal rings. The white circle shall
contain the words SAGISAG NG PANGULO NG PILIPINAS (“Seal of the President of the Philippines”) in black letters on the
upper arc, the lower arc divided by three (3) five-pointed golden-yellow
stars.” |
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The Philippine
Sun Rayonnant symbolizes liberty and freedom. It is taken from the national flag of the
first Republic. The eight rays represent the eight provinces placed under
martial law at the onset of the revolution against Spain. The
Katipunan triangle in red symbolizes liberty, equality, and fraternity, which were
the ideals of the Philippine Revolution. The
Three Stars are for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three archipelagos of the country. The
Sealion at the center of the coat-of-arms is the
heraldic symbol of the Philippines. It is taken from the coat-of-arms of the city of Manila.
It has the arms, head, and upper body of a lion, and the tail of a sea
creature. The sea lion on the coat-of-arms was adopted from the coat-of-arms
(crest) of the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and León and was granted in 1596.
Because the Philippines was an overseas (Ultramar) colony, the lion
became a sea lion. The
Stars in the circular border around the Sun represent as
many provinces as there are in the Republic. |
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Intelligence Service |
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Brief History The National
Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) was created by virtue of Executive
Order (EO) 235 signed by then President Elpidio Quirino on 7 July 1949 in
response to the need for a central entity that would coordinate the
intelligence collection activities of the various government
instrumentalities. As such, the NICA was responsible for coordination all government activities relative to national
intelligence and preparing national intelligence estimates of local and
foreign situations for the formulation of national policies by the President. In 1958, under the
Reorganization Plan 54-A as implemented by EO 291, the NICA was given the
legal and specific powers and functions to carry out more effectively its
mission of providing guidance in decision-making and national policy
formulation. Following the declaration of martial law, the
President Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree 51 on 16 November 1972,
abolishing NICA and creating the National Intelligence and Security Authority
(NISA). The NISA had the same mission as the
old organization but the broader powers. The Director General (DG), NISA had
direct supervision over the National Security Council Secretariat, functional
direction and control over the Civil Intelligence and Security Agency (CISA)
as well as the intelligence functions of the AFP Intelligence Community. The
CISA was responsible primarily for counterintelligence and exercised
functional supervision and control over civil security units of all governmental offices. The DG, NISA was also the
Chairman of the National Intelligence Board, which served as his advisory
body on matters pertaining to the integration and coordination of
intelligence activities. From: http://www.nica.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4 |
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National Security Council |
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The National Security Council (NSC) is the
principal advisory body on the proper coordination and integration of plans
and policies affecting national security. The NSC consists of two distinct bodies - the Council Proper and the National Security Council Secretariat.The Council Proper is a collegial body chaired by the President. It includes concerned officials of the Cabinet and Congress, as members, as well as other government officials and private citizens who may be invited by the President. The Council was created during the Quirino
Administration through Executive Order (EO) No. 330, dated 01 July 1950. It
was reorganized by virtue of EO No. 115, series of 1986. The NSC Secretariat is a permanent body that
provides technical support to the Council Proper. It is headed by the
Director General / National Security Adviser. The motto on the seal reads: KAUNLARAN KAPAYAPAAN KATATAGAN (Development of
Peace and Stability) From: http://www.nsc.gov.ph/ |
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© Hubert de Vries 2010-08-27. Updated
2011-09-20; 2020-06-09