Tag: Phillipines stamp

A rare American decolonization struggle. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is oversized and from the early 50s. That is a good sign that the aim is the foreign collector, mainly in the USA. At the time the Philippines was the recipient of a great deal of foreign aid, mainly from the USA. It was also asking for more to deal with a communist insurgency, the Hukbalahap, (the Huks). The picture of the harvest paints a picture of aid being used wisely to improve the lot of the rural peasant and thereby lessen the appeal of the communists. A new aid package was given in 1951 so the stamp was successful. Philippines earns double points for implying that the government was paying for the program.

Todays stamp is issue A102, a 5 centavo stamp issued by the Republic of the Philippines on March 1, 1951. It was part of a three  stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the governments peace fund. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The USA granted independence to the Philippines on July 4th 1946. Interestingly Philippines celebrates independence in June relating back to the break from Spain in 1898. The government was elected but corrupt with a string of ineffectual presidents. A small communist rebellion started after the government refused to hear the grievances of the peasants. The Huk rebels were lead by veterans of the struggle against the Japanese. The Philippines had yet to enact a land reform to free the peasants from large plantations with absentee landlords.

The aid pouring in from the USA was both civilian and military. The military aid was directed by a former OSS operative then an Air Force Captain named Edward Lansdale. He became close with Ramon Magsaysay first when he was Defense Minister and later as President of the Philippines. Some sources say they were friends and others say that Lansdale physically beat Magsaysay to get him to do the USA’s bidding. Speak softly and carrying a big stick has always been a USA ideal after all. Either way the Huk rebellion subsided but never fully went away.

President Magsaysay later died in a plane crash and Lansdale went on to work out of the USA embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam. His work there was rumored to be the basis for the Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American.” He is also rumored to be the basis for the character of Col. Hilindale in the book “The Ugly American”. Oliver Stone also has a Lansdale like character dressed like a tramp on JFK’s route in Dallas circa 1963. He apparently got around.

My drink is empty. I have been somewhat sarcastic about Col. Lansdale and he certainly seems to be at the center of a few conspiracy theories. Remember though that the USA was handing out large checks to these countries that certainly did not have to take the money. Isn’t it better that someone was there fighting that the USA got some value for all it’s generosity? Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

A new country has to establish itself with it’s own national identity. Style is a big part of that, both for outsiders to recognize as Filipino, and natives to be reminded of home and hearth. In the early 1960s, a Philippines First Lady Evangalina Macapagal tried to be an exemplar of that style. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Philippines sure likes to show its elected leaders on it’s stamps. I think it comes out of the Spanish post Colonial claudillo(strongman) tradition. Wealth and power are in the hands of a few, of more pure Spanish stock. The mass of people are however more poor and indigenous. A smart leader then casts himself, whatever his background, as a fighter for the common man.  Nothing wrong with hope.

Todays stamp is issue A178, a 2 Sentimos stamp issued by the Philippines on July 4th, 1965. It was a four stamp issue honoring the visit of Dutch Princess Beatrix. First Lady Evanangalina Macapagal is wearing a traditional Maria Clara gown for the formal occasion. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Eva’s husband Diosdado Macapagal served one undistinguished term as President from 1961-1965 representing the left of center party. He devalued the currency to increase exports and lower imports and made half hearted stabs at land reform and the corruption of large businesses called Stonehills, after a particularly flagrant American owned concern. He was sensibly blocked from sending the Army to Vietnam and gave up Philippine claims to part of Borneo that passed from Britain to Malaysia at the time. A deputy, Ferdinand Marcos, switched political parties and defeated Macapagal in his attempt at reelection.

The style of Eva Macapagal is what I want to spend some time on. She tried to inspire the women of the country to dress in a uniquely Philippine style. For formal occasions she wore the Maria Clara gown, named after the female protagonist in the national epic “Noli me Tangere”. The dress contains silk as well as pineapple fibers. For everyday, Eva wore patadyong  kimonas. Her clothes were done for her by local designer Pitoy Moreno. Being from the left, she also proposed a pag-asa cloth dress for the masses, locally made and affordable. Eva, a medical doctor in her own right, died in 1998.

Eva was not entirely successful in creating and preserving a Filipinne style. However the country  has only a few political families and her daughter Gloria Orroyo had her own undistinguished term as President from 2002-2009. Despite how she dressed as first daughter, she was most often seen in office wearing western attire. For her final 2009 State of the country annual address, Orroyo wore a Maria Clara gown, specialy made for the occasion and in honor of her late mother.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Eva. The politicians around you were perhaps not the best, but there is something to be said for having style. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.