Flag fetish

CEBU, Philippines - One of my memorable climbs fell on Flag Days (that’s from May 28 to June 30). I have this proclivity of buying stuff associated with the occasion, and I happened to bump into an awesome patchwork – actually an oversized patch – of our national emblem that I decided to sew it on the rain shed of my backpack. IMHO, it was not disregard for such sacred symbol of us as a nation. It was just a personal statement that wherever we go, we can always share in the celebration. The flag is a big part of me in as much as I am a constituent of the flag.

But my fellow climber (the group’s big brother) told me I could be apprehended for the act, as it is very much against a provision of the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 8491). Honestly, I’m not familiar with everything about the code. But what I understand is that I could only be reprimanded if I’m outright disrespectful of it – such as turning it into a bikini, a turban, a shirt, a picnic mat, or that the banner is impressed, as is, onto my flip-flops.

“OA ra kaayo ta uy!” I grumbled. “Look at the Americans’ sense of fidelity, even their gangsters unroll their flags on their motorbikes.”

“No, our brush with the law could take a toll on our schedules. We might even end up sleeping behind bars,” he stressed his point.

Adamant, as ever, I vowed that whoever will give a deym fuss on the flag-patch on my rain cover will get a lecture on my “revised sense of patriotism.”

I would want to unfurl this piece on my shirt. But it cannot be done too, save for some artistic renditions that imply of the flag like the “3 Stars and a Sun” brand spread out by late master rapper Francis Magalona.

“OA ra gyud kaayo ta uy! Look at those Britons who don their flags on their shirts. Does that make them less nationalistic?” Again I barked.

“Look at it this way. Your backpack — with your rain cover — could be loaded on top of a jeepney, or at the cargo board of a bus, it could join other cargoes when in the luggage compartment of a plane. It could be dragged, or rolled on the floor. Your flag could get defaced. Then, what does that speak of you,” again my mentor pleaded I should put off taking the flag with me.

But I proved to be uncompromising! I rolled up the rain cover if only to please him and promised I will be using it only when it rains. So when the downpour comes, the apprehenders might be out there under someone’s awnings waiting for the rain to stop. We could move under a pelting rain.

And so we reached Mt. Magdiwata (Agusan del Sur) with me taking so much pride that on our Independence Day climb, we sported on what’s it like to “feel Filipino through and through.”