RALLY ’ROUND THE FLAG. Emilio Aguinaldo, then in his 60s, posed postwar in his home in Kawit, Cavite, with his favorite flag, the same flag which is now in the museum set up by his great-grandson in Baguio City. Found tucked under his deathbed, this flag will have to undergo thorough testing, according to historian Ambeth Ocampo, before it can be authenticated as the original one sewn by Marcela Agoncillo in Hong Kong according to the specs of Aguinaldo. NATIONAL HISTORICAL COMMISSION OF THE PHILIPPINES
President Benigno Aquino III is returning the Independence Day spotlight to where freedom from Spanish rule was declared on June 12, 1898: Emilio Aguinaldo’s mansion in Kawit, Cavite.
For the first time as President, Mr. Aquino leads today’s Independence Day celebration with ceremonies at the first Philippine President’s shrine.
During the past administration, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the June 12 celebration with ceremonies at Rizal Park in Manila. Then Vice President Noli de Castro and other officials were assigned to lead the ceremonies in Cavite and elsewhere.
To kick off the early morning ceremonies, Mr. Aquino will lay a wreath at Aguinaldo’s tomb, according to the program prepared by Malacañang and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
The flag will be raised and the national anthem sung at the balcony of Aguinaldo’s mansion, where the then young President first unfurled the national flag 113 years ago today.
Kawit Mayor Reynaldo Aguinaldo will lead the oath of allegiance, and Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, the invocation.
Cavite Governor Juanito Victor Remulla will deliver the welcome remarks before former Prime Minister Cesar Virata reads a passage from the Philippine Declaration of Independence.
The President will deliver his main Independence Day speech at the Aguinaldo shrine, according to Secretary Ramon Carandang, chief of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.
“That’s where we declared our independence, that’s where our national flag was first shown,” Carandang told the Inquirer yesterday.
‘Vin d’honneur’
“I think, whenever we celebrate Independence Day, it should be in Cavite,” he said.
From Cavite later in the morning, the President returns to Malacañang to host the traditional vin d’honneur for members of the diplomatic corps and government officials.
He will address the dignitaries, and Qatari Ambassador Abdullah Ahmed Yousif Almutawa, the acting dean of the diplomatic corps, will deliver the response.
Mr. Aquino will watch the parade at Quirino Grandstand scheduled in the afternoon, and end the Independence Day observance with dinner with basic sectors at the Malacañang grounds in the early evening.
“We want the people to feel the celebration of Independence Day,” Carandang said.
A band will play while the President partakes of Filipino food—“There will be lechon,” Carandang said—with ordinary Filipinos, including beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program mobilized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, teachers and students invited by the Department of Education, and nurses from the Department of Health.
The NHCP, the organizing agency, said the afternoon program at Quirino Grandstand would start at 4 p.m.
It said the parade would be capped by cultural presentations and a display of fireworks.
The parade will be shorter than in the past and will be highlighted by the military and 20 electric tricycles, Carandang said.
He said that the government was trying to build up the capacity of the military, and that the electric tricycles represented the Philippines’ aspiration to move forward while ensuring the sustainability of resources.
Only one float will be used during the parade, according to Nilo Agustin, creative director of the celebration. It will carry a tableau featuring model government employees of the year.
Free ride
The Department of Transportation and Communications announced free LRT and MRT rides today for the public from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.