“Hi Karolina, I wanted to take a moment to talk to
you about the Philippine Flag…”
I woke up early, this morning, per the usual,
rubbed my eyes, snagged my reading glasses off the nightstand and
fetched my phone, wondering if anything newsworthy had happened in
our surfing sphere. A quick scroll taught me that new wave pools
are being planned in both San Francisco and Houston, piano man
Billy Joel is a secret surf industry enthusiast, a high surf
advisory has been issued for Hawaii’s south facing shores and… this
is where my heart stopped… “Surfing Barbie” was under
attack for a bit of cultural appropriation.
“Oh no…” I immediately thought. “What did Caroline Marks
do?”
Feeling scared but needing to be brave, I squinted, clicked and
became very relieved that the current world number 6 was not under
any sort of attack. The “Surfing Barbie” in question happening to
be the Dubai-based Pole Karolina Agata Sankiewicz.
Now, I don’t know if you are as familiar with Sankiewicz’s work
as you should be. The social media influencer, who boasts an
impressive 1m followers on Instagram, has made a name for herself
by wake surfing in various unconventional getups. Generally fancy
heels, gowns and hundred thousand dollar handbags.
Yesterday, she decided to celebrate the Philippines ahead of its
upcoming independence day.
“We wanted to honor Filipino culture and community—especially
here in the UAE, where the Filipino community is such a vibrant and
essential part of society. I love you Philippines,” the platinum
blonde declared.
While her intentions might have been pure, many were none too
pleased.
“Hi Karolina,” one concerned follower began, “I wanted to take a
moment to talk to you about the Philippine Flag. As a Filipino, I
wanted to share with you the significance and importance of our
national flag.”
After doing such, he ended, “We appreciate your enthusiasm and
interest in our culture. However, we hope you can understand that
using our flag in a surfing video, even if unintentionally, may be
perceived as disrespectful.”
Another added, I think the use of our flag in a surfing video
does not conform to its lawful use as provided in RA 8491,
specifically this section shown. Also, there is a proper way of
folding the flag. It cannot be folded in a manner that’s convenient
to the bearer.”
Still another, “Using the flag in this way – surfing with it in
the water – does appear to cross the legal and cultural boundaries
of proper flag etiquette in the Philippines. It would generally be
seen as misuse under RA 8491.”
And on and on and on.
Sankiewicz, attempting to put out the fire, jumped into the
comments herself, explaining, “I am holding the Philippines flag
with respect, wearing national Philipiniana outfit from
Philippines, this video was made for the upcoming Independence Day
as my team members are from Philippines we respect and value each
other and support that’s why we made this video so everyone around
the world can celebrate Philippines Independence Day.”
At time of writing, it is unclear if the “some of my best
employees are Filipino” defense has worked or not.
Maybe a silver lining, though? It would be hoped that the World
Surf League has a team busily studying RA 8491 for when a
Championship Tour surfer jumps to Team Philippines ahead of the ’28
LA Olympics thus affixing the flag to singlet.
Proper use etc.
More as the story develops.
