SUBIC BAY FREEPORT —Local visitors and tourists alike can now enjoy the majestic view of Subic Bay with the dignified Philippine national flag flying on its pole 24 hours a day, including weekends.
This developed following the amendment of Republic Act No. 8491, also known as “The Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines,” to designate the Subic Bay Freeport Zone as place where the Philippine flag should be permanently hoisted.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman and administrator Wilma Eisma said she received the advisory from executive director Ludovico Badoy of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
“This allows us to fly the Philippine flag 24 hours a day, every day of the week. And this is an honor we gladly receive, and a matter of deep pride for the SBMA,” Eisma said.
Eisma said with SBMA holding a month-long celebration for its 25th year anniversary that will culminate on Nov. 24, the Philippine flag would again be at the center of the activities, most of which will be held in front of the SBMA administration building where the huge flag is located.
A plaque from the NHCP attesting to the agency’s privilege to continuously fly the Philippine flag will be installed on the base of the flagpole fronting the SBMA office along Waterfront Road here.
In June this year, SBMA deputy administrator for administration Ruel John Kabigting wrote the NHCP regarding the SBMA’s intention to keep the Philippine flag, the biggest in the country, constantly flying, even during weekends and holidays.
“We wanted to give thousands of tourists who come to Subic Freeport the opportunity to behold and pay homage to the Philippine flag,” Kabigting said.
The Philippine flag at the SBMA office is 44 feet long and 22 feet wide, and because it is flown atop a 120-feet high flagpole, is highly visible from many points in the freeport.
“However, it is pitiful that in the past, visitors coming during weekends only see the flagpole without the huge Philippine flag flying at its top,” Kabigting said.