Authority, basis, and predecessor amendment
- Executive Order No. 19 is issued pursuant to the President’s law-vested powers.
- Executive Order No. 19 amends Executive Order No. 38 (dated 07 January 1947), which established the coat of arms, seal, and flag design for the President and Vice President.
- Executive Order No. 451 (dated 04 July 1951) previously amended Executive Order No. 38 by specifying golden yellow colors and tying the presidential seal stars to the number of provinces as of 04 July 1951.
- Executive Order No. 19 updates the design rule to match the continuously changing number of provinces.
Purpose and policy objective
- Executive Order No. 19 directs that the Presidential Seal design must be regularly updated to ensure the number of stars corresponds to the number of provinces at any given time.
- Executive Order No. 19 ties the seal’s star count to the provinces to maintain consistency despite changes in the number of provinces over time.
Core seal design rule amended
- Section 1 further amends Section 1 of Executive Order No. 38 by prescribing the Coat of Arms of the President of the Philippines design.
- The design requires an eight-rayed Philippine sun in golden yellow.
- The center element must include an equilateral triangle in gules (red).
- The triangle must show the traditional sea lion granted to the City of Manila in 1596, on guard with a sword, “or at hilt,” with one mullet in golden yellow at the corner of each of the triangle’s three angles.
Star “amulet” count tied to provinces
- The entire design must be surrounded by stars in the form of an amulet.
- The star arrangement must have one point of each star outward on the imaginary radiating center lines.
- The number of stars must conform to the number of provinces of the Republic at any given time.
- Section 1 expressly assigns three mullets to represent major island groups: one mullet for Luzon, one for Visayas, and one for Mindanao.
Implementation and compliance responsibility
- Section 2 requires the Office of Presidential Protocol to ensure that all concerned offices/units in the Office of the President comply with Executive Order No. 19.
- Section 2 places the compliance function as a duty of the Office of Presidential Protocol over presidential offices/units.
Separability, repeal, and special transitions
- Executive Order No. 19 contains no separability clause, no repeal clause, and no transitory implementation timeline beyond immediate effectivity.