Presidents’ official cars to be featured in stamps

Beginning in August next year, the Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) will issue stamps featuring official cars of previous presidents.

PHLPost Postmaster General Joel Otarra said they have chosen to feature presidential cars because “it is historical to see all the presidential cars.”

“So we tried to produce the cars from the past presidents of the Philippines,” he added.

The official vehicle of the first president and revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo will be among the vehicles to be featured.

Duterte’s vehicles will not be included. It was reported earlier that Duterte refused to use the Mercedes Benz vehicles used by past presidents.

“I do not remember the discussion (of the stamp committee) but he (Duterte) is a very low key person, he is very humble. He is not using luxurious cars. He is using different cars and not just one car. It depends on the Presidential Security Group,” Otarra said on Friday evening.

Otarra is hoping that philatelists would patronize the presidential car stamps and other stamps that PHLPost plans to release next year.

PHLPost will also issue stamps featuring the 200 years of Ilocos Norte, Philippine lakes, colonial churches, and Philippine cuisine.

On Friday, PHLPost also issued a stamp commemorating its 250th founding anniversary. It features horse-driven badageros or postal vehicles in 1767, the year the post office was established.

PHLPost also announced it would upgrade connectivity to better serve Filipinos in far-flung areas.

“We need this connectivity so that the people in far flung areas could get public documents such as the birth certificate, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance, and other documents because we would be connecting to other agencies,” Otarra said.