Aklan’s Noise and Antique’s Silence

To My Neighbor -Province Aklan and the Municipality of Batan :

If the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the National Historical Institute declares that the Code of Kalantiaw has no historical basis, let them be. The monument/shrine of ” Kalantiaw ” is an embodiment/ symbol of a long-held narrative ( be it a myth or folklore ) passed on through generations by word of mouth by our local people. Please continue in the preservation and conservation of the “Kalantiaw” Shrine and the lores that attached to it. Its your own provincial /municipal cultural heritage.

Meanwhile in Antique, our claim that the Philippine flag was first raised outside of Luzon in the towns of Pandan & Culasi with historical basis to back it up , has been silenced/unattended by the NHCP & our high local officials even by those whom we had trusted as guardians/ patrons of Antique’s cultural & historical legacy.

This narrative about our 127 – yr-old flag is not even fully supported by them. Its not taught or published or exposed in our learning institutions. Media news coverages reported only of the flag’s turning over by the Abellon family to the Provincial Government. What was making them or what’s in their minds not to tell so?

But supporting and claiming it that it was in Antique that the Philippine flag was first raised outside of Luzon seemed to have been relegated into the sound of silence.