Special edition Pacquiao stamps almost sold out

Don Mauro M. Pabor Jr. shows off the special edition Pacquiao stamps he bought from the PhilPost office in Manila. The limited edition stamps are selling like hotcakes. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines–Special stamps printed for Sunday’s “fight of the century” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are proving to be a knockout success for the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost).

The government-owned and -controlled firm managing the country’s postal system revealed that although these were released just less than two weeks ago, the special commemorative stamps, depicting Pacquiao in a punching stance, have proven to be hugely popular.

“Our stocks of the stamps are almost depleted,” PhilPost Postmaster General Josefina de la Cruz said on Wednesday. “We’re running out of them so people should go to PhilPost to get it while we still have it.”

The stamps, which come in colored and monochrome versions worth P10 apiece, were launched on April 20. A total of 500,000 stamps were printed in bulk, grouped in sheets containing 40 stamps each.

De la Cruz was amused at how fast the stamps were selling, especially as people were buying them in bulk.

“We priced it at P10 each so that many people could afford it. But instead of buying just one or two stamps, people would buy sheets, with 40 stamps on each,” she said. Each sheet costs P400.

“Just this Monday, when I looked at our post shop at the Post Office in Lawton, people were coming in and still buying in sheets. Others were buying 10 sheets,” De la Cruz exclaimed.

But why are the stamps selling like hotcakes? De la Cruz has her theories, noting that the stamp is a special release and could become a prized collectible after the fight. She cited the Pope Francis stamps they issued earlier this year in commemoration of the papal visit.

“The Pope Francis stamp, which was just P40 when we released it, is now selling on eBay at P500 each. We don’t get anything from sales of stamps outside our post offices,” she said, referring to the auction and buy-and-sell website.

“So if you have a sheet, that’s 40 stamps. It’s worth P400 now, but if Pacquiao wins on Sunday, can you imagine how its value will skyrocket? I think that’s part of the reason why people are not settling for just one or two stamps,” she added.

Despite the huge number of people stocking up on the stamps, De la Cruz said PhilPost was not keen on doing a reprint.

“Collectors will be mad at us. We printed a big number of the stamps because this was not a usual release. So if we decide to have a reprint, I think we’ll get a lot of complaints [from] collectors…,” she said.

This is not the first time that PhilPost has placed Pacquiao on its stamps. In 2008, PhilPost said Pacquiao became the first living Filipino athlete to be immortalized on a Philippine stamp. Philpost released the stamps before Pacquiao’s bout with David Diaz for the WBC lightweight division title in June 28, 2008, which he won.

“You know how much the (2008) stamps are selling now? P5,000 each,” De la Cruz said.