Act No. 2928 (Philippine Legislature)

S. No. 58.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:

The flag commonly known as the Philippine flag is hereby adopted as the official flag of the Government of the Philippine Islands and shall be used publicly, in the place next to that belonging to the flag of the United States, to represent the Government of the Philippine Islands both on sea and on land.

Whenever the Philippine flag is hoisted in public jointly with the American flag, both shall be hoisted and lowered at the same time. The American flag shall be placed above the Filipino flag when both are in a vertical line, and to the right of the latter and at the same height when hoisted in a horizontal line. The Philippine flag shall be accorded the same honors and respect which the existing laws and regulations prescribe or may hereafter prescribe for the American flag.

For the purposes of this Act, a Filipino flag is any tricolored quadrangular piece of bunting answering the thethe [sic] following description:

When the bunting is spread vertically, so that its two parallel shorter sides are to the left and right, respectively, of the observer, and its two parallel longer sides are above and below, respectively, the end of the bunting to the left of the observer shall be occupied by an equilateral triangle. One of the angles of the triangle shall be in the upper left corner of the bunting; another of the angles of said triangle shall be in the lower left corner of the bunting, and the third angle of the triangle shall be pointed in a straight horizontal line, from the left to their right of the observer, towards the center of the quadrangle. The triangle so described shall be white and shall have in its center a sun surrounded by eight rays, and in each of its three angles a five-pointed star. Both the sun and the three stars shall be yellow and said stars shall not extend beyond the sides of the triangle. The rest of the quadrangular bunting shall be divided into two parts by an imaginary horizontal line which, starting from the third angle of the triangle above mentioned, shall run straight from the left to the right of the observer to the right border or side of the bunting. The part of the bunting above said imaginary line shall be red. This description parts from the supposition that the staff or pole of the flag, if any, is on the border or side of the flag to the left of the observer.

Any utterance in speech, writing or drawing, and any act or omission casting dishonor, ridicule, or contempt upon the Philippine flag, as well as its use in places of ill-repute or for purposes involving disrespect, including use as trade-marks and for industrial, commercial or agricultural labels or designs, and any drawings or inscriptions upon the Philippine flag are hereby prohibited and their execution shall constitute an offence; and any person who, either himself or through another, violates any of the provisions of this Act and particularly those contained in this section, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one thousand pesos, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That in case of non-payment of the fine or any part thereof, the offender shall serve one day of subsidiary imprisonment for each peso of the fine unpaid: And provided, further, That for any second and additional offence, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed.

All accomplices and accessories after the fact, and all attempts and frustrated offences, such as said accomplices, accessories after the fact, attempts, and frustrated offences are or may hereafter be defined in the existing Penal Code or in any other penal or correctional code or any law that may hereafter replace the same, shall likewise be liable to trial and punishment under the provisions of this Act.

This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, March 26, 1920.