SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has been authorized to continuously fly what is reputedly the biggest Philippine flag at its administration building here.

This after the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) passed NHCP Board Resolution No. 8, s. 2017 to designate the Subic Bay Freeport Zone as place where the Philippine flag should be permanently hoisted.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said that NHCP Executive Director Ludovico Badoy has sent the SBMA a copy of the resolution that amended Section 19 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 8491, also known as “The Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines”.

“This allowed us to fly the Philippine flag 24 hours a day, and every day of the week,” Eisma said, adding that the privilege “is an honor we gladly receive and a matter of deep pride for the SBMA.”

She also said that 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.

Eisma added that as the SBMA is holding a month-long celebration for its 25th year anniversary that will culminate on November 24, the Philippine flag would again be at the center of the celebration because most of the activities are held in front of the SBMA administration building.

The SBMA had requested the NHCP last June to allow the agency to keep the Philippine flag, the biggest in the country, constantly flying, said SBMA Deputy Administrator for Administration Ruel John Kabigting.

“We wanted to give thousands of tourists who come to Subic Freeport the opportunity to behold and pay homage to the Philippine flag even during weekends and holidays,” Kabigting said.

He noted that 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 visitors coming during weekends only see the flagpole without the huge Philippine flag flying at its top,” Kabigting said.

He noted that flying the biggest Philippine flag in the country is a matter of pride and honor for every Filipino, “especially at this time when our sovereignty, territorial and exclusive economic rights are being challenged in the West Philippine Sea, and most recently the rebellion in the Marawi City.”

SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Public Works Marcelino Sanqui, meanwhile, pointed out that even the flagpole upon which the Subic flag is hoisted also has historical symbolism.

Sanqui supervised the erection of the said flagpole in 1997. He said the 94 feet in its total height of 120 feet stands for the 94 years of American occupation of Subic Bay; the next 18 feet for the heads of states who attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Subic in 1996; and the remaining eight feet for the 8,000 volunteers who helped preserve Subic Bay facilities when the United States Navy withdrew in 1992. – Henry Empeño

Top Photo: The biggest Philippine flag in the country flies proudly in front of the SBMA administration building in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.