The Great Seal of the Philippines (Filipino: Dakilang Sagisag ng Pilipinas) is used to authenticate official documents of the government of the Philippines.
In this context, the word "seal" can mean the tool for pressing marks into paper, or it can mean the mark made by that tool. By law, the President of the Philippines is given custody of the seal.
Design and usage Republic Act No. 8491 specifies a Great Seal for the Republic of the Philippines:
Historical designs
Seals of the Philippine Revolutionary states The First Philippine Republic did not employ a single great seal.
American period In 1903, a design by Melecio Figueroa, a Filipino engraver, for coinage was adopted for the design of the Great Seal under the United States-administered Insular Government. The seal featured Mayon Volcano and a Filipino woman in Filipiniana attire striking an anvil, surrounded by the text "United States of America, Government of the Philippine Islands". This seal has "never been legally adopted by the Philippine Commission" was supplanted by a design of John R.M. Taylor in 1905, when a new coat of arms was also adopted.
The seal was revised when the Philippine Commonwealth was established in 1935, and the new coat of arms was patterned after the Philippine flag. The seal was composed of the arms inscribed in a circle with the text "United States of America, Commonwealth of the Philippines". President Manuel L. Quezon adopted a new coat of arms and seal in through Executive Order No. 313 on December 23, 1940. The seal was not used despite its official adoption, and the Commonwealth reverted to the 1935 seal on February 23, 1941.
Second Philippine Republic The Second Philippine Republic of 1943 to 1945, a puppet state of Imperial Japan, adopted a different seal in October 1943. President Jose P. Laurel issued Republic Act No. 5, which states that the design is a triangular emblem encircled by a double marginal circle. The law dictates the seal to be:
Post–World War II After the dissolution of the Philippine Commonwealth and the granting of the full independence of the Philippines by the United States in 1946, a new coat of arms was adopted along with a great seal. The seal was composed of the seal inscribed in a double marginal circle with the text "Republic of the Philippines". The seal had little revisions. In 1978, President Ferdinand Marcos, included the motto "Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa" (“One Nation, One Spirit”) and the inscription of the seal was in Filipino as "Republika ng Pilipinas, Opisyal na Tatak".
See also Seal of the president of the Philippines Seal of the vice president of the Philippines Seal of the Senate of the Philippines
References