Flag of Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under the command of Col. Maximo Abad

Talking about Philippine revolutionary flags such as that of Andres Bonifacio, did you know that our Battle of Pulang Lupa Hero, Col. Maximo Abad led the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces with his own flag?

Col. Maximo Abad (left) with
Capt. Teofilo Roque beside him.

The present whereabouts of the Abad flag is still being investigated, unlike the 'personal flag' of Andres Bonifacio that is currently up for auction. The planned auction is however being stopped as a local legislator has stressed that under Section 7 of RA No. 10086 creating the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), "to acquire important historical documents, collections, memorabilia and other objects that have significant value" is a mandate of the said Commission.

“Heritage memorabilia and other historical articles must be acquired by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on behalf of the government for posterity rather than allowing them to be auctioned to private collectors, with the possibility that these historical articles will go to foreigners or foreign places beyond the access and appreciation of generations of Filipinos,” the legislator, Rep. Edcel Lagman said.

Flag of the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under the command of Col. Maximo Abad.

Abad’s flag was the flag of the Marinduque Revolutionary Forces under his command. It was captured by the American forces in Marinduque in 1901 and is described as “a field flag measuring 18x30 inches. Its colors are red, white and blue with but two bars and a triangle white. In the triangle are handpainted characters representing the sun, surrounded by three large stars, which are black. The material of the flag is ordinary bunting”.

The above drawing is one version only of the flag posted by watawat.net based on a written description. 

Information about the flag came to the knowledge of local historical researcher, Curtis Shepard, and was shared with this blogger a couple of years ago. Shepard maintains a blog, ulongbeach.com devoted to publication of research materials on Marinduque's past. His investigations continue.