The Great Seal shall be affixed to or placed upon all commissions signed by the President and upon such other official documents and papers of the Republic of the Philippines as may be provided by law, or as may be required by custom and usage.

[1]The First Philippine Republic featured a seal composed of an equilateral triangle with three stars representing Luzon, Visayas, and "Mindanao and Sulu" and an eight-rayed sun.

The seal featured Mayon Volcano and a Filipino woman in Filipiniana attire striking an anvil, surrounded by the text "United States of America, Government of the Philippine Islands".

The seal was composed of the arms inscribed in a circle with the text "United States of America, Commonwealth of the Philippines".

[3] The Second Philippine Republic of 1943 to 1945, a puppet state of Imperial Japan, adopted a different seal in October 1943.

The law dictates the seal to be:[4] The Great Seal of the Republic of the Philippines shall be circular in form with an equilateral triangle in the middle studded with three five-pointed stars in each corner and emblazoned at the 'center- with the eight-rayed sun, each ray flanked on both sides -by lesser and minor rays; the triangle to be enclosed by another equilateral triangle and between the lines of the two triangles there shall appear on the left side the word 'Kapayapaan,' on the right, 'Kalayaan,' and at the bottom 'Katarungan'; surrounding the whole a double marginal circle within which shall appear the words 'Republika ng Pilipinas' and the figures '1943'After the dissolution of the Philippine Commonwealth and the granting of the full independence of the Philippines by the United States in 1946, a new coat of arms was adopted along with a great seal.