The Philippines have been populated for a long time but as we know flags are something recent in the large picture of history. In ancient times native population inhabited the Philippines but they didn’t have any flag. The closest thing we can find to a flag would be the symbols through which they represented themselves or by which they were depicted by historians like the ancient painting or ivory seal which seems to contain some symbols. But all of this changed in 1521 when Portuguese explorer Magellan arrived in the Philippines and claimed the islands for Spain. So technically the first official flag of the Philippines would in fact be a Spanish colonial flag which evolved with time. During Spanish occupation there was also a British flag flying over the Philippines, the flag of the East India Trade company. After being ruled by the Spanish, the islands were ceded by Spain to the United States of America because of their defeat in the spanish american war which ended in 1898. The present Philippines flag was first flown during the time of the Philippines revolution. It has symbols of the Mythical Sun with a face similar to the sun of May. The triangle of Freemasonry representing the eight rebellious provinces against the Spanish. The three stars represent the three main islands. The flag carries the text in spanish saying expeditionary forces of northern luzon and on the back it says freedom, justice and equality. In 1919, the official flag was adopted with some changes. Sun’s face was removed and there was no spanish text. The white triangle signifies the emblem of Katipunan, the secret society that opposed Spanish rule. The colors commemorate the flag of the United States as a manifestation of gratitude for American aid against the Spanish during the Philippine revolution. The eight rays of the Sun represent eight provinces that originally rebelled against the spanish rule. The Philippines flag is a representation of History and revolution.