Philpost to issue Noynoy stamp

MANILA, Philippines - In keeping with tradition, the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) is issuing a commemorative stamp of president-elect Benigno “Noynoy”Aquino III.

“It has been part of our tradition that when there is a new president, we would come out with a new stamp,” said Assistant Postmaster General Luis Carlos.

The 50-year-old Aquino was officially proclaimed by Congress as the country’s 15th president yesterday. He will take his oath as president on June 30.

The stamp might be issued after Aquino’s oathtaking. “There is a protocol that we have to follow. The pictures of Senator Aquino that would be used in the stamp would depend on the photos that would be provided by president-elect Aquino’s staff. As soon as we receive the pictures, we would process it immediately,” Carlos said.

He believes the Aquino stamp would be a hit among stamp collectors, like the commemorative stamp for the 25 death anniversary of Aquino’s father, former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. issued on Nov. 27, 2008 and the collectible stamps for his mother, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino issued on Sept. 8 last year.

The stamps bearing the image of boxing legend Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and the late Iglesia ni Cristo head Eraño Manalo were also sought after. Carlos said they even had to reprint copies of the Manalo stamp.

Carlos said they are planning to produce 50,000 pieces of Aquino’s stamp to be sold at P7 each. Philpost expects to earn P350,000 from the stamp issuance. Carlos said issuing commemorative stamps is one of the ways to significantly increase Philpost revenues.