Sunday Stamps 027: Cotton tree flower

Having issued the first set of definitive stamps on flowers on March 12, 2009, Chunghwa Post (Taiwan's Postal Service) immediately followed up with a second set featuring four flowers, including the one below:

Bombax ceiba (NT$2.50): Bombax ceiba, commonly known as cotton tree, is a deciduous tree of the Bombacaceae family. Leaves are palmately compound. Flowers are orange or red, with five petals. The calyx is cup-shaped. It produces a capsule which, when ripe, will burst open and disperse seeds that are covered thickly with cotton-like fibers. The tree has a masculine shape and looks different in all four seasons. One of its salient features is that it blooms before it leafs out.- Source

Bombax ceiba is also known as kapok tree which is natively found in southern and eastern Asia and northern Australia. It's flowers have  were said to be commonly used as herbal tea in China and that the cotton-like fibres were also used in the past as cotton substitute.

Researchers have recently found out that some active constituents and phytochemicals in this plant have known to exert many beneficial effects, particularly apigenin, a well-known anti-cancer agent, and, luteol, that has an anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic agents. - Source

Sunday Stamps 026: Pheepoy, the lovable PhilPost mascot

I'm making up this week for the missed theme two weeks ago. I think I stretched the theme (streetcars/public transport) a teeny-bit once again. I hope I don't get in trouble with Viridian, the host of Sunday Stamps :) Here it is:

Friends, meet Pheepoy, the lovable mascot of the Philippine Postal Corporation.

I love Pheepoy the mascot, he is cute! Don't you? Here he's seen with the mail track. Other 2010 issues with Pheepoy on them include (refer to the photo below):

Souvenir Sheets of Four
Souvenir Sheets of Four
7p Pheepoy Delivering Mail on foot
7p Pheepoy with Philpost in the Background
7p Pheepoy in Motorcycle
7p Pheepoy with Mail Track

Photo Source: PhilippineStamps.net

Postmaster General Hector R.R. Villanueva said that Pheepoy personifies an honest and dedicated postman, whose primary goal is to deliver the mails rain or shine anywhere in the country and around the world, to the satisfaction of the mailing public.

“The mascot is also a way of reaching out to kids and families that letter writing is the best tool to communicate and interact in the light of modern technology,” Villanueva added.

Representing the more than 13,000 postal employees in the country, “Pheepoy,” personifies an honest, ever dependable and dedicated postmen. His outgoing spirit, high energy and passion also represent the ideal qualities of every PhilPost employee.

Kids (and kids at heart) can visit www.philpost.gov.ph to check Pheepoy’s character profiles and activities. - PhilippineStamps.net

Sunday Stamps 025: A tribute to Tita Cory

In September 2009, the PhilPost issued a limited edition of the "Cory stamps":

Former Philippine President and democracy icon Corazon C. Aquino, garbed in her iconic yellow dress and flashing her famous "L" sign, meaning laban or fight. She is the Mother of People Power in our country which became the model of other peaceful revolutions around the world.
January 25, 1933 - August 1, 2009

The commemorative stamp above is one of the se-tenant bearing the image of  Corazon "Cory" Aquino, former Philippine President and a democracy icon. This shy and self-proclaimed "plain housewife" became the 11th President of the Philippines after leading the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. Tita Cory, as she's fondly called after her term as President and became Citizen Cory, was the first woman to hold that office. Later that year (1986) she was named "Woman of the Year" by Time Magazine.

The launching of the Cory stamps coincided with the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to which the late president was a known devotee.

[Philippine] Postmaster General Hector R.R. Villanueva said that “the Cory Aquino stamps will serve as a fitting tribute to her achievements before her incumbency when she led the 1986 People Power Revolution. As well as the freedom and democracy that we regained during her tenure, including fighting off several coup attempts to unseat her, must never be forgotten by all Filipinos,” he said.

Villanueva is also hoping that the stamps would serve as a permanent reminder to all Filipinos, those present and future generations, of her valuable contribution to the country.

The President Cory Aquino memorial stamps can be considered the most celebrated issue ever of the Philippines.  Released on September 8, 2009 with a limited edition of 70,000 pieces or 35,000 sets since the stamps were issued in se-tenant pairs, the entire issue sold out overnight.  This has never happened before with any Philippine issue. - Source

Mrs. Aquino, 76, died on Aug. 1 after a long battle with colon cancer. The outpouring of support and sympathy for the Aquino Family after a five-day wake saw the nation wrapped in grief and adulation. She was finally laid to rest and buried at the Manila Memorial Park in Parańaque City beside her assassinated husband, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on August 5. - Source

Her son Benigno Aquino III was elected president himself and was sworn in on June 30, 2010.