Marcos stamps issued on dictator’s centenary

PHLPost has issued a centenary stamp to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose more than two-decade reign had marked one of the darkest periods in the country’s history.

The stamp was issued last Sept. 11 and would be on sale until Sept. 10, 2018, PHLPost said on its website.

It bore the portrait and signature of Marcos, whose remains were transferred from a family mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte, and interred in November last year at Libingan ng mga Bayani In Taguig City. The transfer was approved by President Duterte, who called the dictator a “hero.”

Sold for P12 each, the Marcos stamp measures 30 mm by 40 mm and was designed by Victorino Severo. It is printed by Amstar Company Inc.

The postal agency said that it had also issued stamps commemorating the birth centenary of five other Philippine presidents, namely, Emilio Aguinaldo (1969), Manuel Quezon (1978), Sergio Osmeña (1978), Ramon Magsaysay (2007), and Diosdado Macapagal (2010).

“Others were given commemorative stamps either on their inauguration as President or under the banner of the Decade of Filipino Nationalism — Great Filipinos,” the agency said.

“Stamps are miniature pieces of art and a recorder of history. They are visual reprsentations of our country’s history,” it added.

During Marcos’ presidency, thousands of activists and members of the political opposition were either killed or arbitrarily detained in military camps. The country’s foreign debt ballooned and widespread graft and corruption stalled economic growth and government programs.

Marcos was unseated during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.