92. HERITAGE MONTH, TUMAUINI STAMP & PHLPOST

HERITAGE MONTH, TUMAUINI STAMP & PHLPOST

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

2 May 2019

One of my three hobbies since grade school is collecting Philippine first-day issue stamps (the other two are: coins and bank notes collections). Though I stopped obtaining new issues in 2001, I presently have 128 envelopes in my collection. I met the manager of the Business Lines Department of the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost), Mr. Maximo C. Sta. Maria III and his regional head for Cagayan Valley, during the launching of the 2019 National Heritage Month (NHM) Commemorative Stamps featuring the province of Isabela and "Women as Keepers of Heritage" and he even invited me to exhibit my collections. The launching was one of the highlights of the kick off ceremonies for the month-long celebration of this year’s NHM.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Isabela, the Municipal Government of Tumauini and the PHLPost, officially spearheaded the event at the Saint Matthias Parish Church Patio, Tumauini, Isabela. The 2019 NHM is anchored on the theme “Mga Pinuno Para sa Pamana” that aims to send a message to Filipinos to be the frontrunners in preserving and promoting our culture and heritage. It intends to instill the importance of our heritage as an integral part of our identity as Filipinos. The NCCA, chaired by National Artist Virgilio S. Almario, through its sub-commission for Cultural Heritage, led the celebration pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 439 signed on August 11, 2003.

In line with the National Heritage Month celebration, various cultural agencies, national government agencies, schools, public libraries, Philippine embassies and consulates, LGUs and private organizations will hold heritage-related activities such as lectures, demonstrations, conferences, and exhibit, which aim to educate and raise awareness among the youth on tangible and intangible heritage, and to recognize and support the roles of local artists and cultural workers in preserving and promoting cultural heritage. The Commission also initiated a competition through social media called #TanglawNgPamana that intends to showcase talents in promoting cultural heritage through an audio-visual presentation. This will also serve to reach audience particularly the youth on a national celebration like the National Heritage Month. In the Province of Isabela, the following were the prelude to the kick-off: (1) Youth Forum on Heritage and Larong Atin! Philippine Traditional Games from March 28 - 29, 2019 at the Provincial Capitol Compound and Barangay Sta. Victoria Covered Court both in the City of Ilagan. (2) Youth Forum on Heritage Tour held on March 29, 2019; and (3) Local Press Conference in line with the kick-off rites on National Heritage Month held on April 30, 2019 at the Municipal Session Hall, Tumauini, Isabela.

One of the commemorative 2019 stamps featured the famous Tumauini Church. The Saint Matthias Parish Church is declared by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) as a National Historical Landmark and by National Museum of the Philippines (NM) as National Cultural Property, it is also one of the four Baroque Churches in the Philippines included in the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The church, a Spanish era edifice, is unique for its extensive use of baked clay both for the wall finishing and ornamentation. The Tumauini Church marker installed by the National Historical Institute (now the NHCP) in 1989 reads: “FIRST BUILT OF LIGHT MATERIALS BY THE FRAY FRANCISCO NUNEZ, O.P. AND DEDICATED TO THE PATRON SAINT SAN MATIAS, 1707. SEPARATED FROM CABAGAN AND BECAME A REGULAR PARISH, 1751. THE CHURCH OF STONE WITH A UNIQUE CYLINDRICAL BELL TOWER, THE ONLY OF ITS KIND IN THE PHILIPPINES WAS CONSTRUCTED BY FATHER DOMINGO FORTO, 1783 AND COMPLETED, 1805. BECAME THE CAPITAL OF ISABELA FOR SOMETIME IN 1880’S. PARTLY DAMAGED DURING WORLD WAR II AND REPAIRED INTO ITS ORIGINAL FORM BY THE FAITHFUL OF TUMAUINI. BY VIRTUE OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 260, 1 AUGUST 1973, AS AMENDED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER NOS. 375, 14 JANUARY 1974, AND NOS. 1505, 11 JUNE 1978. THIS CHURCH WAS DECLARED A NATIONAL HISTORICAL LANDMARK, 24 FEBRUARY 1989.”

I remember visiting the Manila Central Post Office, often called the Post Office Building, at Liwasang Bonifacio, Magallanes Drive, Intramuros, Manila on Sundays to attend  auctions, not only of stamps but also of other old items: coins, books, toys, even old documents like lottery tickets and documents dating back to the Spanish era, conducted by the Filipinas Stamp Collectors Club. This Neoclassical edifice also serves as the home of the Philippine Postal Corporation is a product of Architect Juan M. Arellano and it was here where I secured over a hundred first-day issue Philippine stamps. My oldest stamp is a 2 Centavos - June 19, 1946 - Commonwealth of the Philippines postage stamp while my latest is a 5 Peso - April 22, 2001 - Our Lady of Manaoag Diamond Jubilee 1926-2001 Canonical Coronation stamp.

The Philippine postal system has a history spanning over 250 years. Browsing the net reveals that in 1767, the first post office in the Philippines was established in the city of Manila, which was later organized under a new postal district of Spain. At first, the postal office served mainly to courier government and church documents. In 1779, the postal district encompassed Manila and the entire Philippine archipelago. On December 5, 1837, the postal district was reestablished. A year later, Manila became known as a leading center of postal services within Asia. In 1875, Spain joined the Universal Postal Union which was announced in the Philippines two years later. By then post offices were set up not only in Manila but in many major towns and cities in the provinces. During the Philippine Revolution, President Emilio Aguinaldo ordered the establishment of a postal service to provide postal services to Filipinos. On September 5, 1902, it was organized as a bureau under the Department of Trade by virtue of Act No. 426 enacted by the Philippine Commission. On January 1, 1922, the Philippines eventually joined the Universal Postal Union, this time as a sovereign entity.

In 1926, the Manila Central Post Office building, the center of Philippine postal services and the headquarters of the then Bureau of Posts, was completed in its present-day Neo-Classical style. In 1945, during the Liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese, the building was destroyed and in 1946 the Central Post Office was rebuilt. On April 13, 1987, with the overhaul of the Philippine bureaucracy, the Bureau of Posts was renamed the Postal Service Office (PSO) by virtue of Executive Order No. 125 issued by President Corazon Aquino. It was also the same order that placed the PSO under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). On April 2, 1992, by virtue of Republic Act No. 7354 the Postal Service Office became the present-day PHLPost. The law also granted the PHLPost the authority to reopen the Philippine Postal Savings Bank, which occurred on July 21, 1994 during the tenure of President Fidel V. Ramos. On December 2016, Mr. Joel Otarra, a former member of the board of directors in 2011 was appointed as the new postmaster general and CEO of the PHLPost by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The Province of Isabela, particularly the Municipality of Tumauini, is very fortunate to be chosen by the NCCA as the venue for the kick-off celebration of this year’s National Heritage Month. The province endowed with rich and glorious past, is the home of hundreds of cultural treasures both tangible and intangible. It is now the role of our leaders and culturally related offices to preserve these vast wealth of the province known as the “Sentro ng AgriKultura”. The National Heritage Month is celebrated to highlight the role of every Filipino on becoming future leaders in the preservation of the Philippine Cultural Heritage as well as to instill consciousness, respect and love for Filipino cultural history.