Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Edita Burgos’ Quest For Justice

From one mother to another, Risa Hontiveros has expressed admiration for Edita Burgos’ quiet fortitude—and unshakable faith—in the search for her son Jonas, missing since 2007 and believed abducted by certain operatives of the military.

 
“She has been so faithful in this struggle”. Hontiveros, a mother of four and a widow, said. “As women, some of us as mothers, you just have to give her the highest admiration,” added Hontiveros.

 
Since he went missing in April 2007 after being abducted at a Quezon City mall by men believed to belong to two units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, no evidence has emerged to show Jonas is still alive. On March 18, 2013, almost six years later, the Court of Appeals recognized his abduction as an enforced disappearance and held Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr. as one of those responsible for it.

 
However painful and seemingly futile her search, and in the absence of proof of life, Mrs. Burgos, wife of the late press freedom icon Jose Burgos Jr. has persisted “without hatred in her heart. It is hard to maintain this fight until now,” Hontiveros believed.

 
After being dashed for so long, Mrs. Burgos’ hopes rose (in March) with the appearance of new evidence apparently leading her search to the abductors. Hontiveros said that the courts should not ignore the evidence, urging “highest court in the land as well as the Court of Appeals to revisit the Burgos case.”

 
Being a mother to a young family, whose oldest child, a boy, is 20 years old. Hontiveros empathized with the Burgos matriarch.

 
“The latest development is encouraging,” she said.  “Due process will and must continue at all times. I trust the President (Aquino) to continue to exercise his best judgment in ensuring that justice will be served regardless of whoever is involved.” 
Colors of National Flag

Pinoy pride was displayed as the country celebrated flag days which started on May 28, the anniversary of the day the flag was first flown, until Independence Day, June 12.

 
But have you ever wondered what are the exact shades of red, blue and yellow?
If yes, you’re not the first to get confused. Several historians have long debated on the shades to use for the flag, especially for the dominant blue stripe.

 
While scarlet red and golden yellow had been the widely accepted color for the Philippine flag, it had been unclear whether its counterpart stripe is Cuban blue, navy blue or sky blue.

 
Those who said it should be Cuban blue argued that the Philippine flag had been patterned in many aspects to the Cuban flag, Malacanang’s briefer said.

 
Others are rooting for navy blue, the shade seen in the American flag. Some preferred sky blue, citing written accounts and an artwork from the period.

 
The debate has even prompted the late President Ferdinand Marcos to change the flag’s color to light blue from navy blue, the shade more widely seen used during the Commonwealth era.

 
The change in color, which a historian has attributed to available cloth supply more than historical precedent, was not popularly accepted.

 
President Corazon Aquino, who assumed power after Marcos’s ouster, reverted to the use of navy blue in 1987.
It was also during Aquino’s time that the Philippines rejected the Bases Treaty with the U.S., marking the last time a foreign flag was allowed to fly in Philippine soil.

 
But the changes in the flag’s color didn’t end there. In 1998, upon the approval of the Flag and Heraldic Code mandated again the use of another shade of blue for the flag.

 
So is it Cuban blue, sky blue or navy blue? The answer is none of the above.

 
The Philippine flag officially uses royal blue, which the Palace said was “viewed as the historical compromise to settle earlier debates.”

 
So raise the Philippine flag in an act of patriotism with royal blue for the stripe.

 
Also remember that unless the Philippines is in a state of war, the blue stripe should be on top of red. When displayed vertically, the blue color is on left side of the viewer or observer.

 
Show love, faith and loyalty to the Philippines even by the correct display of Philippine Flag. /MP