The Philippine Postal Corporation is coming up with the Protect the Ozone Layer stamps which will be issued on September 16, 2010. It is classified as a “Special” kind of issue with a denomination of P 7.00 and quantity of 120,000 pieces.

Although ozone (O3) is present in small concentrations throughout the atmosphere, most ozone (about 90%) exists in the stratosphere, in a layer between 10 and 50km above the surface of the earth. This ozone layer performs the essential task of filtering out most of the sun’s biologically harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation. Concentrations of ozone in the atmosphere vary naturally according to temperature, weather, latitude and altitude. Furthermore, aerosols and other particles ejected by natural events such as volcanic eruptions can have measurable impacts on ozone levels.

There are possible ways to protect the ozone layer such as:

1. Minimize high altitude aircraft flights (oxygen reduction and water vapor deposition).
2. Minimize rocket flights (water vapor deposition).
3. Encourage growth of plants that produce oxygen, discourage deforestation.
4. Decrease / control releases of high temperature steam / moisture to the atmosphere.
5. Eliminate production and release of known ozone depleting chemicals (such as CFCs
and HCFCs) where remotely possible. Subsidize production of safer alternatives where
possible.
6. Establish controls to assure that new compounds to be used in high volume, are
surveyed for effect on ozone.

Moreover, an individual can also do his share by doing the following:

- Try to use products which are labeled “Ozone-Friendly.”
- Ensure technicians repairing your refrigerator or air conditioner recover and recycle the
old CFCs so they are not released into the atmosphere.
- Vehicle air conditioning units should regularly be checked for leaks.
- Ask about converting your car to a substitute refrigerant if the a/c system needs major
repair
- Help start a refrigerant recovery and recycling program in your area if none already
exists.
- Replace halon fire extinguishers with alternatives (e.g. carbon dioxide or foam).
- Suggest school activities to increase awareness of the problem and to initiate local
action.

Save our sky, protect yourself, protect the ozone layer.

The technical description of the Protect the Ozone Layer stamps are as follows:

Kind of Issue: Special

Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 120,000 pieces

Date of Issue: September 16, 2010

Last date of Sale: September 15, 2011 (or as stocks allow)

Size: 30 mm x 40 mm.

Sheet Composition: 40 on (4 x 10)

Kind of Printing: Litho offset

Paper: Imported Unwatermarked

Printer: Amstar Company, Inc.

Designer: Philippine Ozone Desk Team led by
Ella Deocadiz

Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak
Victorino Serevo
Elenita D.L. San Diego

Design: Stamp 1:
With two outstretched hands that seems
holding the Earth, with green fields as the background
Stamp 2:
With one hand that protect the Earth, with the
ocean as the background.

The Philippine Postal Corporation is coming up with the third quarter topical issue, the Dogs of the World stamps, which will be issued on September 9, 2010. It is classified as a “Special” kind of issue with a denomination of P 7.00 and quantity of 100,000 pieces.

One of the interesting feature of the souvenir sheet is Saver, a remarkably intelligent white “asong pinoy” or Aspin (common Filipino native breed). Saver, who was trained to do various dog tricks by Apolinario Villarosa Lazarte, Jr., is a multi-awarded dog and starred in many films and commercials. He also inspired the signing of R.A. 8485, which is commonly known as Animal Cruelty Law.

The following breeds are featured in the Dogs of the World special stamps:

Chow Chow – An ancient breed of Chinese origin, the Chow Chow is a member of the spitz family. As a working breed in its country of origin, the Chow was used to guard, hunt and work as a cart dog.

Bull Terrier – Originally called the Bull and Terrier, this British breed represents a cross between the Bulldog and the now extinct White English Terrier. Bull Terriers are friends to all, but because their first job was that of pit fighter, their feisty instincts die hard.

Labrador Retriever – This dog has a retrieving jones. Lead a Lab to a body of water and it will retrieve all day: balls, sticks, and even children who might happen to go for a swim. Descended from dogs found in Newfoundland by explorers, fishermen and settlers, the Labrador Retriever evolved by natural selection.

Beagle – Beagles have a long history, but the most famous of them all, of course, is Snoopy, whose delight in food and travel exemplifies the breed. This small, popular trail hound, used chiefly to hunt rabbit and hare, was developed in England.

American Eskimo Dog – The Dog Beautiful is an appropriate nickname for this breed, which has a thick, snow-white coat, erect ears and a plumed tail, as well as the square build and wedge-shaped head that mark it as a member of the spitz family.

Black and Tan Coonhound – A specialist in night trailing the raccoon, the Black and Tan Coonhound is a direct descendant of the Bloodhounds that were imported to the English colony of Virginia. Males measure 25 to 27 inches at the shoulder; females two inches less.

Afghan Hound – With a flowing silky coat and exotic features, the Afghan Hound is the model/actress of the dog world, admired for its beauty, grace and flashy style.

Mastiff – Sometimes known as the Old English Mastiff, this giant breed has been known for centuries as a war dog, hunter, estate guardian and blood sport combatant, but today it is a gentle companion and valiant protection dog.

The technical description of the Dogs of the World stamps are as follows:

Technical Description
Kind of Issue: Special

Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 100,000 pieces

Date of Issue: September 9, 2010

Last date of Sale: September 8, 2011 (or as stocks allow)

Size: 40 mm x 30 mm

Sheet Composition: 16 on

Souvenir Sheet: Php 28.00 / 5,000 pieces

Size of the Souvenir Sheet: 135 mm x 80 mm

Kind of Printing: Litho offset

Paper: Imported Unwatermarked

Printer: Amstar Company, Inc.

Artists: Mary Anne C. Cruz / Jaime Raphel D. Atienza
John Paul T. Patetico / Reynaldo T. Baylon

Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak
Peter Uckung of NHCP
Victorino Serevo

Design: Four types of dogs such as:
Chow – chow / Bull Terrier
Labrador Retriever / Beagle
On the sleeve of the souvenir sheet shows the
“Asong Pinoy or Aspin” named “Saver, The Dog Wonder.”
Other dogs featured are:
Amerikan Eskimo Dog / Black and Tan Coonhound / Afghan Hound and Mastiff.

In celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, the Philippine Postal Corporation in partnership with the Department of Education (Deped) and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) is launching the “ The Importance of Protecting Earth’s Natural Resources” ON-THE-SPOT POSTAGE STAMP DESIGN CONTEST.

The contest is designed to create awareness among youth of their role in the climate change campaign of the government. It will give them a chance to interpret their ideas on the hazardous effects of this changes and how they can help sustain the preservation of our nature.

Mechanics:

1. This contest is open to all high school students both from public and private schools.

2. The contest theme is “ The Importance of Protecting Earth’s Natural Resources”

3. Entries must be made on a white illustration board. The artwork should be in a vertical format size 8 ¾ inches x 11 ½ inches.

4. The artwork must be accompanied by a write up or interpretation of the theme and the design. It must be handwritten in an A4 bond paper and must not be less than 100 words.

5. Artworks done manually using crayola, pastel or water colors shall be preferable.
There are no restrictions in colors to be used in the artworks.

6. The name and address of the designer together with the name of the school should be attached at the back of the illustration board.

7. The design shall not incorporate postage stamp theme, or numbers representing the denomination or year of issue.

8. All materials will be provided by the participants.

9. Participants will be given 2 hours to accomplish the design.

10. All artworks submitted shall automatically become the property of Philpost.

11. The contest proper will be held at Philpost main lobby, Central Office Building Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

12. The contest will be on September 7, 2010 and will start at exactly 2:00 p.m and ends at 4:00 p.m. late comers are disqualified.

Prizes

1st Prize – P20, 000.00
plus Plaque and Certificate of Participation

2nd Prize – P15, 000.00
plus Plaque and Certificate of Participation

3rd Prize – P10, 000.00
plus Plaque and Certificate of Participation

For more information/inquiries, please call Ms. Joy E. Cacho, Special Project Officer,
OAPMG for Marketing Tel. Nos. 527-00-59/527-01-08/524-87-71.

Newly delivered CeC equipment at Sta. Cruz Post Office, Laguna.

Postal Offices in Sta. Cruz, Laguna and Lupao, Nueva Ecija are the two pilot sites for the establishment of Community eCenters (CeCs), a partnership project of the Commission on ICT (CICT) and the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost). These pilot sites will kickoff the project consists of six new CeCs that will be established in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Aside from the said two CeCs in Luzon, the Visayas region will have the post offices in Bantayan-Cebu and Kalibo-Aklan and post offices in San Miguel-Zamboanga Del Sur and Malalag-Davao Del Sur for Mindanao region, as CECs sites for respective areas. The said three islands will have an equal distribution of two CeCs each. The partnership agreement between the CICT and Philpost was signed last June 18, 2010.

Under the partnership agreement, which primarily seeks to promote community development through the use of ICT for effective and efficient governance, the pilot postal offices will serve as CeCs and offer various CeC tools and products aside from their existing postal services.

The designated staff of each of the six sites will undergo an orientation to be conducted by the telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy through the Essentials of CeC Management training scheduled on September 20-24 as part of the preparation for the said project.

CICT will provide the equipment, training and one-year connectivity grant to Philpost CeCs.

The Philippine Postal Corporation is coming up with the 300 Years of Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia stamps which will be issued on September 8, 2010. It is classified as a “Commemorative” kind of issue with a denomination of P 7.00 and quantity of 160,000 pieces.

One of the many Catholic traditions is the Marian devotion. We, the Filipinos, especially the Bicolanos, have that extraordinary, exceptional, and devoted love for Mother Mary — the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, too. We believe that she will intercede for us and will lift our prayers up to God. Thus, there is strong belief and unshakable faith that our prayers are answered through the intercession of the Blessed Mother.

She has been called many names in different regions of the Philippines. Some of them are the following: Nuestra Señora de Caridad to Ilocanos; Our Lady of Manaoag to the people of Pangasinan; Lady of Piat to Cagayanos; Nuestra Señora del Rosario de la Naval or Nuestra Señora de Antipolo to the Tagalogs and many others. Perhaps, one of her most notable names is Our Lady of Peñafrancia, more warmly called INA or Mother, to the Bicolanos. This intense devotion to Mother Mary by the Bicolanos can be traced back in Spain.

The Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is a one-week affair that starts on the second Friday of September when the miraculous Ina is transferred from her shrine to the centuries-old Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. This procession is locally called traslacion where the miraculous images of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and of the Divino Rostro journey to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Naga City for a Novena and Holy Masses. This began in 1885 and ushers in the week long festivities in the locality. A nine-day novena and prayers are held in her honor. This event is considered as the biggest and most popular religious event in the Philippines.

The technical description of the 300 Years of Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia stamps are as follows:

Kind of Issue: Commemorative

Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 160,000 pieces

Date of Issue: September 8, 2010

Last date of Sale: September 9, 2011 (or as stocks allow)

Sheet Composition: 40 on (4 x 10)

Size: 30 mm x 40 mm.

Souvenir Sheet: Php 28.00/8,500 pieces

Size: 100 mm x 50 mm

Kind of Printing: Litho offset

Paper: Imported Unwatermarked

Printer: Amstar Company, Inc.

Artist: Victor Dennis T. Nierva

Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak
Victor Serevo
Elenita San Diego

Design/s: Stamp1: Image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, 1924
Stamp2: Image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, 2009
Stamp3: Our Lady of Peñafrancia Shrine
Stamp4: Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Naga City

The Philippine Postal Corporation is coming up with the President Benigno S. Aquino III stamps, which will be issued on July 26, 2010. 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.

The technical description of the President Benigno S. Aquino III stamps are as follows:

Kind 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: Unwatermarked

Printer: Amstar Company, Inc.

Photographer: Jay Narvaez Morales

Designer/ Layout Artist: Jesus Alfredo Delos Santos

Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak
Elenita San Diego

Design: Oathtaking and the Inaugural Speech of
President Benigno S. Aquino III last June
30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park

The Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) issues on Monday (July 12, 2010) the commemorative stamps for LRTA with the theme “TRENta Anyos, Serbisyong Ayos”. The stamps show a block of four depicting the different trains used by the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) through the years. Another philatelic item worth to collect is the Souvenir Sheet showing in a strips of four, all four trains.

It will be available on sale starting on the aforementioned date at Room 203, Philatelic Division, Postage and Philatelic Department, Main Lobby, Philpost Bldg, Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila. For inquiries, you may call 527-0132.

On July 12, 1980, the country’s president, Ferdinand E. Marcos, created the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) as a government agency. The Chairman was the then First Lady and Governor of Metro Manila, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. This LRTA confined its activities to determining policies, to the regulation and fixing of fares, and to the planning of extensions to the system. The project was called Metrorail and was operated by a sister company of the former tramway company Meralco, called Metro, Inc.

Initial assistance for building the LRT project came from the Belgian government which granted a P300 million “soft” and interest-free loan with a repayment time of 30 years. The project was expected to pay for itself within a period of 20 years out of revenue alone. A Belgian consortium consisting of ACEC (Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi, BN), (Constructions Ferroviaires et Metalliques, formerly Brugeoise et Nivelles), TEI (Tractionnel Engineering International) and TC (Transurb Consult) provided an additional loan of P700 million. The consortium provided the cars, signalling, power control, telecommunications, training and technical assistance. The entire system was expected to be financially ‘in the red? well into 1993. Against an expected gross revenue of P365 million for the first operating year, government losses were thought likely to reach P216 million. The system was designed as a public utility rather than as a profit center.

Construction of the line started in October 1981, and was the responsibility of CDCP (Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines), with assistance from the Swiss firm of Losinger and the American company Dravo, the latter, through its Philippine subsidiary. The government appointed Electrowatt Engineering Services of Zurich (Switzerland) to manage and supervise the project. Electrowatt set up offices in Manila and became responsible for extension studies of the system which eventually comprised 150 km of routes along all major corridors in about 20 years time.

The technical description of the LRTA TRENta Anyos, Serbisyong Ayos stamps are as follows:

Kind of Issue: Commemorative

Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 180,000 pieces

Date of Issue: July 12, 2010

Last date of Sale: July 11, 2011 (or as stocks allow)

Size: 40 mm x 30 mm.

Sheet Composition: 40 on (4 x 10)

Souvenir Sheet: Php 40.00 / 7,000 pieces

Size: 170 mm. x 80 mm.

Kind of Printing: Litho offset

Paper: Imported Unwatermarked

Printer: Amstar Company, Inc.

Graphic Designer: Annie Pacana-Lumbao

Photographer: Jojo Vitug

Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak
Victorino Serevo

Design: LRT trains with LRTA 30th Anniversary Logo

In line with the inauguration of the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines, the Philippine Postal Corporation issues today, the limited edition Commemorative Cover of President-elect Benigno S. Aquino III.

The commemorative cover comes with the Php7.00 stamps of President Corazon C. Aquino Memorial stamps (2nd edition issued last September 18, 2009). President Noynoy Commemorative Cover is worth Php15.00 only but everyone is encouraged to get a copy now due to its limited quantity. After a certain period, the value of said Commemorative Cover will increase its worth almost the double of its face value.

Philipost will come up with a limited edition of 2,000 pieces only.

Download the full pricing guide here.