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In observance of National Flag Day, some 11,000 volunteers from
various sectors in Cavite will be lining up along Aguinaldo Highway
from SM City-Bacoor to SM City-Dasmariñas, a distance of about 17
kilometers, at about 3 p.m. to wave and twirl their flags as a
kickoff ceremony for the Kalayaan Festival, a two-weeklong
celebration leading to Independence Day on June 12.
On board the Kalayaan Festival bus, officials of
Cavite led by Gov. Ayong Maliksi, the vice governor, members of the
provincial board and mayors of the 20 towns and three cities of the
province will drive along the highway at about 4 p.m. to greet the
flag-twirling participants.
The flag-twirling event, a culmination of the
Wagayway Festival from May 24 to May 28, is expected to attract not
only local but also international interest because it aims to break
a Guinness world record of “having the most number of people
simultaneously twirling flags” that is currently held by Belgium.
Alda Lou Cabrera, provincial information
officer, said officials of Guinness would be supervising this
challenge posed by the province to Belgium that produced 630 warm
bodies simultaneously twirling flags during a national event held
last year. She also clarified that the official category is
“flag-twirling,” not flag-waving.
“This is one step forward in our quest for
world attention in line with our efforts to bring in more foreign
investments. More investments mean progress,” said Mayor Manny
Maliksi, who is spearheading a vigorous campaign to make the
municipality of Imus the “flag capital of the Philippines” and a
tourist destination.
Vice Mayor Mandy Ilano said the Wagayway
Festival is guaranteed to become more colorful than other festivals
because “we will fill almost every area of our town with
Philippine flags to dramatize our claim to being the country’s
flag capital while also highlighting the bravery of our ancestors
who fought the colonizers.”
Cavite officials stressed that May 28, now
celebrated annually as National Flag Day, is important in our
history because it was on this day when the original Filipino flag
made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo was first unfurled and waved
by a triumphant Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in the Battle of Alapan in
Imus. (See related story on page 5.)
This battle ultimately paved the way to the
declaration of independence and eventually the birth of the First
Philippine Republic in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898.
Because of the pivotal role Cavite played in the
nation’s history, First District Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, a
descendant of General Aguinaldo, has sponsored a bill in Congress to
formally declare Cavite as the “historical capital of the
Philippines.”
-- Rogelio Limpin
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