The Anthem Philatelist

Macau is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea in the east and south.   The territory features industries such as textiles and toys, as well as a notable tourist and gambling sector. It has the highest life expectancy in the world (2008).     Macau was a Portuguese colony and both the first and last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.   Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence...

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.