Description
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelago country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorised under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.
The National Flag of the Philippines is a horizontal flag bi-colour with equal bands of royal blue and crimson red, with a white, equilateral triangle at the hoist. In the centre of the triangle is a golden-yellow sun with eight primary rays, each representing a Philippine province. At each vertex of the triangle is a five-pointed, golden-yellow star, each of which represents one of the country’s three main island groups—Luzon, Visayas (though originally referring to Panay) and Mindanao. The white triangle at the flag represents equality, liberty, and fraternity. A unique feature of this flag is its usage to indicate a state of war if it is displayed with the red side on top, which is effectively achieved by flipping the flag upside-down.