[ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 273, May 11, 1940 ]

REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE USE OF THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FLAG OF THE PHILIPPINES, AND THE FLAGS OF OTHER NATIONS



Pursuant to the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution and the existing laws, I, MANUEL L. QUEZON, President of the Philippines, do hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the use of the Flag of the United States, the Flag of the Philippines, and the flags of other nations, pending the withdrawal of the sovereignty of the United States over the Philippines:

1. At all ceremonies participated in by troops of the Philippine Government, the Flag of the United States and the Flag of the Philippines shall be displayed on separate staffs with the former on the right. The same rule, with respect to relative position, shall apply on all other occasions where the two flags are displayed on separate staffs.

2. At other times the two flags may be displayed on a single staff, one on each end of a horizontal crosspiece not less than ten feet in length and firmly attached near the top of the staff. The Flag of the United States shall be on the right, as determined by a person standing at the shore mast and facing seaward, or facing to the front of a building, or shall be on the north or east of the Flag of the Philippines, if in an open area.

3(a) Uncased national colors and flags passing in a parade, review, or other ceremony should be saluted by all persons present who should face the flags, stand at attention, and render an appropriate salute.

(b) Ceremonies participated in by troops of the Philippine Government shall be conducted as prescribed in regulations.

4. The Flag of the United States and the Flag of the Philippines should be displayed on all national holidays and on other historic or special occasions. However, national flags of other nations may be displayed with those of the United States and the Philippines, the order of display from right (the flags ™ own right) to left being the Flag of the United States, the Flag of the Philippines, and the flags of other countries in the order of precedence fixed by international conventions, protocols, or usage, and, in the absence of these, in the alphabetical order as determined by the official names of the respective countries.

5. No other flag shall be displayed from the same point of hoist as the Flag of the United States and the Flag of the Philippines.

6. The Flag of the United States shall always be displayed when the Flag of the Philippines is displayed with those of foreign nations.

7. The Flag of the United States shall always be hoisted first and lowered last.

8. When the two flags are carried in a procession with other flags, the place of the Flag of the United States is on the marching right (the left of an observer when the flag is approaching); that of the Flag of the Philippines is to the left of and next to it; and the other flags shall be to the left of the Flag of the Philippines in the order given in Paragraph 4 above. However, when there is a line of other flags, the Flag of the United States and the Flag of the Philippines may be in front of the center of that line.

9. On the national holidays of his country and other historic or special occasions, any alien, whose nation is at peace with the United States and the Philippines, may display the flag of his nation on any building or other property owned or rented by him, without simultaneously displaying either the Flag of the United States or the Flag of the Philippines. However, if the alien is located in a building or on other property owned or rented by the United States or the Philippine Government, the flags of those nations should always be displayed when that of his own country is displayed.

Done at the City of Manila, this 11th day of May, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fifth.

(Sgd.) MANUEL L. QUEZON
President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President