Seal of the President of the Philippines

The official seal of the President of the Philippines was devised by Capt. Galo Ocampo of the Philippine Heraldry Committee and was decreed through Executive Order No. 38, signed by President Manuel Roxas on January 7, 1947. An amulet of stars representing the number of provinces of the Philippines as of July 4, 1951 was added through Executive Order No. 457 issued by President Elpidio Quirino. President Ferdinand E. Marcos utilized a different presidential seal, one which featured an inverted triangle and an eagle instead of the sealion. This was discarded following the assumption to the presidency of Corazon c. Aquino. President Joseph Ejercito Estrada issued Executive Order No. 19 on August 27, 1998 which altered the number of stars around the escutcheon to reflect the increase in the number of provinces, which had grown from 52 in 1951 to 78 in 1998. Executive Order No. 310, issued on April 20, 2004, mandates that the presidential seal adopts the following design:

A circular blue shield with an eight-rayed golden-yellow Philippine sun at the center. Overlapping the Philippine sun is a red equilateral triangle. Inside and at the center of the equilateral triangle is the traditional golden-yellow sea lion (Utramar) of the Coat-Of-Arms granted to the City of Manila in 1596, on guard with a sword on its right paw, at hilt. Inside and at the corner of each of the three (3) angles of the equilateral triangle, a five-pointed golden-yellow star to represent Luzón, Visayas, and Mindanao, respectively.

The elements enumerated above are encircled at the outer edge of the blue shield by five-pointed golden-yellow stars, with one point of each star pointing outward on the imaginary radiating center lines, the number of stars conforming to the number of provinces of the Republic of the Philippines at any given time.