Bandila

I just had my very first own report on TV. No, I didn't appear on the tube. But for the first time, I wrote my own report, and researched on it as well as interviewed a person over the phone for confirmation. I usually voiced reports almost everyday. But it's the first time I voiced a report entirely my own. It was aired in almost all news programs on ANC on June 12.

My story was an Independence Day special report on the flag. It focuses on the proper decorum in dealing with the Philippine flag. Many people don't know that there is such a thing as Republic Act 8491 or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines. There is actually a law on how to respect a flag. And mind you, there is a minimum one year in jail for violators and a fine of P5,000-20,000.

It is very important for Filipinos to respect the flag. It may just be a piece of cloth, but that piece of cloth happens to bring together almost 90 million people worldwide. That piece of cloth has help made this nation free. And hopefully that piece of cloth would further unite a country so divided.