1956 Leyte Landing

On October 20, 1944,  General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore at Leyte signaling the American reconquest of the Philippines. Shortly after his  arrival he made a radio address in which he said:

“People of the Philippines, I have returned! By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”

The Bureau of Posts issued a perforated commemorative stamp on October 20. 1956 to mark the 12th anniversary of the landing at Leyte.  An imperforate version of the stamp was issued on February 16, 1957. The lithographed stamp was printed by the Philippine Bureau of Printing.

First Day of Issue Cachet

A cachet was available for the release of the perforated stamp only.

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Perforated Stamp : October 20, 1956

Imperforate Stamp : February 16, 1957

Overseas Mailers

1956 University of Santo Tomas

The Roman Catholic University of Santo Tomas was founded on April 28, 1611.  The campus of the oldest existing University in Asia was orginally located in Intramuros, the walled city of Manila. In 1927, the main university campus was tranferred from Intramuros northwest to the Sampaloc district of Manila. The Intramuros campus continued to operate until WWII when the Japanese converted the campus into an internment camp for civilians, foreigners and POWs. During the liberation of Manila, buildings of the University in Intramuros as well as in Sampaloc were damaged or destroyed. The facility in Intramuros was burned on February 8, 1944.

A set of two stamps was issued on November 13, 1956, to honor the University of Santo Tomas. The Swiss firm of Courvoisier printed the stamps which feature the main building built in 1927 on the Sampaloc campus.

University of Santo Tomas Main Building
Photograph : Erick Opena,2009

A First Day of Issue cachet was not produced by the Bureau of Posts for this issue.


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Unpainted and Painted

 

1956 50th Anniversary Philippine National Red Cross

On August 30, 1905,  Miss Mabel T. Boardman , Secretary of the Central Committee of the American National Red Cross, helped to organize the Philippine Branch of the American Red Cross, whose purpose was "To take charge of disaster relief withing the Philippines and administer American Red Cross relief funds sent from the United States."

 Mabel T. Boardman was elected to the American Red Cross governing board in 1901, beginning a lifelong career of organizational leadership, particularly among volunteers.

The 50th anniversary of Red Cross service in the Philippines was marked on August 30, 1955, but it was only on August 30, 1956, that the Bureau of Posts issued a set of stamps to commemorate the event. The stamps were engraved and printed by the American Bank Note Co. of New York.

Stamps

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1956 World Confederation of Organizations for the Teaching Profession

The World Confederation of Organizations for the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) , composed of organizations representing 3 million teachers, held its 5th annual conference in Manila and Baguio City from August 1 to 8, 1956. To commemorate the event, the 5c Pilar definitive stamp overprinted "WCOPT CONFERENCE MANILA" was issued on August 1, 1956.

 (The WCOPT merged with the International Federation of Free Teachers' Unions in 1993 forming Educational International.)

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1956 10th Anniversary of the Republic

 On 4 July 1956, U.S. Vice President Richard  Nixon joined President Ramon Magsaysay to celebrate the Philippines’ 10th and America’s 180th birthdays.  The Bureau of Posts marked the occasion with the release of a stamped envelope. The 2c Rizal envelope of 1948 was overprinted by the Philippines Bureau of Printing.

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1956 Liberty Wells

"God will bless those who dig wells, build bridges, and construct roads." 
Chinese proverb

In 1954, the majority of the population of the Philippines was dependent on unsafe sources of water. President Magsaysay urged the people to get together and put in community wells. Filipino-Chinese business leader Albino Sycip established the "Liberty Wells Association" to raise funds to donate wells  to poor communities.

Don Albino Sycip was a founder and Chairman of the Board 

of China Bank, the first privately-owned commercial bank in 

the Philippines.

President Ramon Magsaysay praised the Association in his first State of the Nation address and issued an executive order which allowed the  Liberty Wells Association "to solicit contributions to the Government from the public of funds and materials to be used exclusively for the construction and development of artesian wells and other sources of potable water supplies for rural communities in the Philippines lacking in financial resources to provide an adequate and safe water supply."


On March 16, 1956, "Safe Drinking Water for Rural Areas" was the subject of a set of commemorative stamps issued by the Bureau of Posts. The stamps, engraved by Waterlow & Sons (England) feature a vignette of President Magsaysay and a scene of villagers pumping water from the community Liberty Well.


Stamps

 

 

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