The Anthem Philatelist

In line with 150th birth centenary of our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, several tourism and philatelic related activities are ongoing. The Department of Tourism (DoT) opened the "Lakbay Jose Rizal @ 150," a year-long tour that allows tourists to retrace the national hero's steps by visiting as many as 27 Rizal sites in the country. Participants will be given "Lakbay passports" and a spec al stamp for every Rizal site they visit.   The National Historical Commission of the Philippines, in partnership with the Philippine Postal Corporation , also held a stamp design contest entitled “150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF JOSE RIZAL STAMP DESIGN CONTEST” with the theme Rizal: Haligi ng Bayan. The contest was participated by students, amateurs and professionals and judging was held last March 1, 2011 at the NHCP Building. Dir. Jeremy Barns of the National Museum ; Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak from Philippine Postal Corporation, Mr. Danilo Pangan from the National Commission fo...

Gastroenterology is the medical sub-specialty concerned with the function and disorders of the stomach, intestines, liver and related organs of the gastrointestinal tract. Endoscopy is a non-surgical procedure done by a gastroenterologist to look inside the gut using an endoscopic camera to diagnosis and perform therapeutic procedures like snare polypectomy (excision of pedunculated polyp), argon plasma coagulation (stoppage of bleeding), and rubber band ligation (esophageal varices). Some stamps related to Gastroenterology events had been issued. The majority are presented here. The World Congress of Gastroenterology (WCOG) is held every four years event under the auspices of the World Organisation of Gastroenterology (OMGE). Since its inaugural conference in 1958 in Washington, D.C.   WCOG has become the leading quadrennial gathering of the world's digestive disease physicians. The previous World Congresses where special stamps were issued for the event include- 1974 in Me...

Last July 26, 2010, the Philippine Postal Corporation issued two new stamps of President Benigno S. Aquino III . It is classified as a “Special” kind of issue with denominations of P 7.00 and P 40.00 and quantity of 350,000 pieces and 100,000 pieces, respectively. The said stamps relive the historical moments of President Aquino’s inaugural speech and oath-taking last June 30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park. These newly issued stamps are a nice addition to the Commemorative stamps and first day cover issued on the day of his inauguration last June 30, 2010. The technical description of the President Benigno S. Aquino III stamps are as follows: K ind of Issue: Special, Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 350,000 pieces, Php 40.00/100,000 pieces, Date of Issue: July 26, 2010, Last date of Sale: July 25, 2011 (or as stocks allow), Size: 40 mm x 30 mm (Php 7.00), 30 mm x 40 mm (Php 40.00), Sheet Composition: 16 on (4 x 4), Kind of Printing: Litho offset, Paper: U...

Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of the larger gong-chime culture of Southeast Asia , kulintang music ensembles have been playing for many centuries in regions of the Eastern Malay Archipelago — the Southern Philippines, Eastern Indonesia, Eastern Malaysia, Brunei and Timor, although this article has a focus on the Philippine Kulintang traditions of the Maranao and Maguindanao peoples in particular. Kulintang evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs from Sunda . Its importance stems from its association with the indigenous cultures that inhabited these islands prior to the influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity or the West, making Kulintang the most developed tradition of Southeast Asian archaic gong-chime ensemble...

Dr. Manuel S. Enverga , founder: president of the Luzonian University which he converted into a foundation that now bears his name, the Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation in Lucena City, and Representative of the First District of Quezon from 1953 to 1968, spent the remaining years of his retirement from politics nurturing the growth of the higher education institution he founded to provide affordable, relevant, and quality education to his countrymen and to write about his vision for the country, foremost of which was to advance the nationalist cause . A staunch nationalist, Congressman Enverga authored the change of the celebration of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12 which President Diosdado Macapagal adopted and signed into an executive order. He also spearheaded the reexamination of Philippine foreign policy to open trade, scientific and economic cooperation with socialist countries to reduce dependence on the traditional American market, an advocacy that was clearly ah...

Eduardo Quisumbíng y Argüelles (1895, Santa Cruz, Laguna–1986) was a leading authority of plants in the Philippines. He earned his BSA at University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1918, his MS at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1921, and Ph. D. in Plant Taxonomy, Systematics and Morphology (biology) at the University of Chicago in 1923. From 1920-26 he was attached to the College of Agriculture in U.P., and from 1926-28 to the University of California; in 1928 he was appointed Systematic Botanist and from February 1934 Acting Chief of the Natural Museum Division of the Bureau of Science, Manila, equivalent to the present Director of the National Museum. When assigned to the U.S. Navy in Guiuau, at the southern tip of Samar, he undertook collections in that region. He retired as Director in November 1961, and was for some years attached to the Araneta University. Dr. Quisumbing undertook restoration of the Herbarium which was completely destroyed during the war. Dr. Qui...

Asuncion Arriola Perez (1895-1967) a simple and quiet individual but her deeds speak for her. She has been a servant to her fellow men since she became a social worker for the Red Cross in 1924. She has unselfishly helped her countrymen specially the less fortunate. As the saying goes "Once a social worker, always a social worker. She was the Executive Secretary of the Associated Charities of Manila and the Red Cross. During the was she and her husband were arrested by the Japanese. After the war she was called back to government service as superintendent of the Relief Office for the Greater Manila Area . As president of the PACSA (President's Action Committee on Social Ameliorization) she was entrusted to handle a budget of 4 million pesos to rehabilitate victims of the war. At the close of 1953 when President Quirino lost to Ramon Magsaysay , she resigned from her post as cabinet member. This brought to a close the government service of this great woman, Asuncion Arriol...

Victorio C. Edades (1895-1985). Made National Artist in Painting in 1976, Victorio C. Edades was the pioneer in modernism in the Philippine art scene. In fact, he is known as the Father of Modern Philippine Painting . A lot of his paintings portrayed the hardships of the working class, using dark and somber colors and bold strokes. Edades was born on December 23, 1895 in Dagupan , Pangasinan to Hilario Edades and Cecilia Edades. He obtained his early education in barrio schools and went to a high school in Lingayen . In 1919, he left for the United States to study Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Washington in Seattle. During the summer, he worked in the salmon canneries of Alaska . It was also during his stay in the U.S. that he married American Jean Garrott, with whom he had his only daughter, Joan. He returned to the Philippines in 1928 and in the same year had his first one-man show at the Philippine Columbian Club . He also came up with two of his most well-kno...

Josefa Jara Martinez (b. January 21, 1894 - d. 1987) was among the Philippines most outstanding social workers and Filipina to find social work as her career. She was the program director of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), a well-known nonprofit institution in Nueva Ecija .   Born in Iloilo , Martinez was the daughter of Jose Jara and Emilia Gogil. She studied at Mandurriao, Iloilo City and became the school's brightest student. Later, she was sent to Philippine Normal School as a pensionada and graduated in 1912. She practiced her career and became a public school principal before she was sent to New York in 1919 as a government pensionada.   She took up a degree in social work with child and family welfare as her major. She married Rufino Martinez who was an engineer and naval architect by profession. The couple was gifted with three lovely children.   After her quest for knowledge for social development overseas, her record as a social worke...

Sabino Padilla (1894-1986 was a legal luminary and Defender of the Judiciary. An associate justice of the Supreme Court and justice secretary under the Quirino administration, Sabino Padilla y Bibby was born in the district of San Miguel, Manila on August 21, 1894. He was the fourth son of the eleven children of Nicanor Padilla y Escobar, a physician, and Isabel Bibby y Peña, a former teacher. Sabino’s father Dr. Padilla was one of the first eight graduates of the college of medicine of the University of Santo Tomas. He served as a colonel and chief of the medical corps of the revolutionary army under General Antonio Luna. After the Filipino-American War, he returned to Pangasinan, his home province, where he practiced his profession. Following the establishment of civil government under the Americans, he was elected representative of the first district of Pangasinan in the First Philippine Assembly, which was convened in 1907. The stamp above was issued on June1, 1994.

Nicanor Reyes Sr. (1894-1945) was the founder and first President of the Far Eastern University in downtown Manila. He envisioned a school that would promote the teaching of accounting to Filipinos, a profession formerly available only to foreigners. He wanted to prove that Filipinos were capable and trustworthy in handling the hundred of enterprises that would result with the coming of the independence of the country.   He earned an A.B. in 1915, a bachelor's degree in Commercial Science from New York University in 1917, and a M.A. in Business Administration from Columbia University the following year. He received his Ph.D. in Accountancy from Columbia - the first Filipino to do so, which was also the first degree of its kind to be awarded by Columbia. During the Pacific War, the Japanese killed Dr. Nicanor Reyes and some members of his family.   The stamp above was issued on June 1, 1994.

Eulogio "Amang" Adona Rodriguez, Sr. (January 21, 1883–December 19, 1964) was a Filipino politician, the longest serving Senate President after Manuel L. Quezon, serving the post from April 30, 1952 to April 17, 1953 and May 20, 1953 to April 5, 1963. Rodriguez was born in Montalban (renamed Rodriguez in his honor), Distrito de Morong on January 21, 1883 to Petronilo Rodriguez and Monica Adona. He first studied at the Spanish-run public school in Montalban, then took his secondary course at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1896. He then studied law under a private tutor. Rodriguez first served as Municipal President of Montalban, Rizal from 1906–1916; became Governor of Rizal in June 1916; and was reelected in June 1922. He was appointed Mayor of Manila by Governor General Leonard Wood on July 23, 1923, and later served as Representative of Nueva Vizcaya District from February 1924 to May 1925. He became the Representati...

Maria Ylagan-Orosa (29 November 1893 – 13 February 1945) is a Filipino pioneer food technologist, pharmaceutical chemist, humanitarian and war heroine. Orosa was born on 29 November 1893 in Taal , Batangas to Simplicio Orosa y Agoncillo and Juliana Ylagan. Her brothers and sisters were Simplicio Jr., Vicente, Sixto, Felisa, Jose, Nicolas, and Rafael. She went to elementary and high school in her province. In 1915, she took up a pharmacy course at the University of the Philippines . A year after, she left for the United States as a government scholar. She enrolled at the University of Seattle as a partial government scholar and earned her degree of Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 1917; a bachelor's degree in Food Chemistry in 1918; a degree in Pharmacy in 1920; and a master's degree in Pharmacy in 1921. Orosa worked as an assistant to Dean Charles Johnson of Washington University in order to support her studies. Upon finishing her studies at the University...

Pilar Hidalgo-Lim (1893 – 1973) was a Filipino educator and civic leader. She was married to Brig. General Vicente Lim, World War II hero.   Pilar Hidalgo-Lim graduated from the University of the Philippines, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude. She joined both the UP and Centro Escolar as a mathematics instructor. She married Lt. Vicente Lim, a West Point graduate, on August 12, 1917 They had six children: Luis, Roberto, Vicente Jr, Patricio, Eulalia, and Maria.   Hidalgo-Lim was active in civic affairs. She became President of the National Federation of Women's Clubs, and was an active supporter for women's suffarage, which President Manuel Quezon signed into law in 1937. In 1940, with Josefa Llanes-Escoda, Hidalgo-Lim helped found the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. She also worked as a line producer for Parlatone Hispano-Filipino Studios, a Manila movie production company. Hidalgo-Lim and her children were in the United States when World War II started.   Hidalgo-Lim and...

Wenceslao Quinito Vinzons (September 28, 1910 — July 15, 1942) was a Filipino politician and a leader of the armed resistance against the Japanese occupying forces during World War II. Among the first Filipinos to organize the guerrilla resistance after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, he was executed by the Japanese Army. Vinzons was one of the young and brilliant delegates to the constitutional convention under President Manuel L. Quezon. Although not a Tagalog himself, he supported Quezon's proposal to develop and national language based on Tagalog. The non-Tagalog delegates protested the proposal but Vinzons drafted the present text of the section on national language, making it more acceptable to the other delegates. This led to the adoption of the proposal. The stamp above was issued on September 9, 1987.

Rajah Sulaiman III was the Rajah (King) of Maynila, a Kapampangan and Tagalog kingdom on the region of the Pasig River in Manila. Along with Rajah Sulaiman II and Rajah Lakan Dula, he was one of three Rajahs who fought the Spaniards during the colonization of the Philippines in the 16th century. Spanish documents say his people called him "Rajah Mura" or "Rajah Muda" (a Sanskrit title for a Prince). The Spanish transcription of "Rajah Mura" is Young Rajah, a reference to the fact that he was Rajah Sulaiman II's nephew and heir to the throne. The Spaniards called him "Rajah Solimano el Mow". After making peace with the Spaniards in 1571, Rajah Sulaiman III led a revolt against them in 1574, which Philippine historians refer to as the first battle of Manila Bay, but is also known as the Sulaiman revolt. The stamp was issued on November 30, 1962.

A wage earner-turned-millionaire, Toribio Teodoro (1887 – 1965) was an inspiring example of Filipino initiative and enterprise. He is a pioneer Filipino entrepreneur and industrialist.   The son of poor parents from Tondo named Julian Teodoro and Apolinaria del Mundo, he was born in barrio Matang Tubig (now Grace Park), in Caloocan, Rizal on April 27, 1887. Barely 12-years-old but eager to help his parents eke out a living, he began working in El Oriente, a cigar factory, earning a weekly salary of 80 centavos.   Full of ambition, industrious, and determined to improve his lot in life, he gave up his initial job to start a business enterprise with his friend, Juan Katindig. On November 14, 1910, they opened a small shop at 821 Calle Cervantes (now Rizal Avenue) that sold shoes and slippers bearing “Ang Tibay” brand. The business was capitalized at only P210, of which P30 was put up by Katindig.   The two friends’ profitable partnership ended in 1921, when Katindig dec...

Pedro Alejandro Paterno (February 27, 1858 - March 11, 1911) was a Filipino statesman as well as a poet, composer,novelist, historian and negotiator. His intervention on behalf of the Spanish led to the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato on December 14, 1897, an account of which he published in 1910. Among his other works include the very first novel written by a native Filipino, Ninay (1885), and the first Filipino collection of poems in Spanish, Sampaguitas y poesias (Jasmines and Poems), published in Madrid in 1880. Paterno had the luxury of in private schools in the Philippines and abroad. He studied law at the Central University in Madrid. The stamp above was issued on October 25, 1975.

Carlos Peña Rómulo (14 January 1899, Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines – 15 December 1985, Manila, Philippines) was a Filipino diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He is the co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. He was secretary of Foreign Affairs under President Elpidio Wuirino and was later posted as Ambassador to the United Nations and was the first Adian President of the UN General Assembly (1949-1950). At the third UN General Assembly, held in Paris in 1948, the USSR’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Vishinsky, sneered at Rómulo and challenged his credentials: “You are just a little man from a little country.” “It is the duty of the little Davids of this world,” cried Rómulo, “to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!” During his meeting with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito welcomed Gen. Romulo with drinks a...

Miguel Malvar y Carpio (September 27, 1865 - October 13, 1911) was a Filipino commander who served during the Philippine Revolution and subsequently during the Philippine–American War. He assumed command of the Philippine revolutionary forces during the latter conflict following the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. In 1982, Malvar joined the revolution with his father. He was given command with the rebel forces in Batangas, Laguna and Tayabas as Brigadier General. One of the most courageous military officer of the Philippine-American War, Malvar is remembered as the last general to surrender to the Americans. The stamp above was issued on July 10, 1972.