2019 Calendar and Postcard Features Places in the Philippines Named after Native Plants

Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society Inc. (PNPCSI ) a non-stock, non-profit and non-government society which advocates the popularization of native plants, trees, orchids and its ethono-botanical uses had came up with a limited 1,000 pieces print of 2019 Calendar and postcard issue.

2019 calendar/ postcard

This features 12 native plants and trees with local and scientific names . There are a lot of places, towns and cities in the country which are named after plant species.

Aside from being a highly collectible issue, This also serves as both educational tool and increase awareness for the plight of these native tree and plant species. A lot of which are in the endangered species list.

Pitogo plant was featured in this March 2019 calendar

The calendar/ postcards was launched during the Christmas get-together by the group last December 8, 2018.

The postcard portion can be detached and send to postcard/ stamp collectors from all over the world.

Some postcard and stamp collectors told the author that they should be given advance notices so that they could pre-order in advance. ( Sorry, I was also informed at the last minute.)

This is not the first time that the society had printed this type of calendar/ postcard. It is good that they listen to my suggestion as one of the original founding member and officer of the society-  More than 10 years ago!.

 

 

Ms. Charito Solis: Igorota film postcard

Ms. Charito Solis is an award winning actress with several films tucked into her colorful career. This is a 50 year-old advertisement postcard printed around 1968.

Ms. Charito Solis postcard (obverse)

She is better known as “Ina Magenta ” at Okey Ka, Fairy Ko ! . A fantasy sitcom aired in several television stations like IBC Channel 13 from Feb 1, 1987 to September 22, 1989 , then moved to ABS-CBN channel 2 from 1989 to 1995 then moved again to GMA channel 7 from 1995 to 1997.

Igorota film with Opera Theater  directed by Mr. Luis Nepomuceno ( reverse side) 

This is a type of advertisement postcard which was prevalent until the late 1990’s. The film outfit had printed thousands of this postcard as form of promotion and collectible item. This was issued around mid 1968 as part of local publicity for the film release.

This was collected by an aunt who watched the film. This was given to them when they attended the premiere night. The film had big budget for its time and the melodrama won 8 Famas Awards and highly acclaimed internationally. Miss Solis had her breast exposure twice and had two versions of the film.

One was released for the Philippine market and the longer version was release for international audience. She also had a lot of international suitors and fans.

According to my aunt, President Sukarno of Indonesia would give her some gifts ( according to old newspaper and magazines clippings).  The film was also released in Brazil, Argentina and was also shown in several Asian countries.

Note: Photos was taken by the author from personal collection

Sources and References: Personal interview 

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0225968/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Postcard from McKittrick , Missouri

Happy Easter and Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay ! to my avid readers,

Easter postcard circa 1911

I was doing some clean-ups in my personal collection will take back for more than a century on April 12, 1911 when an Easter postcard was send from Montevista College from California to McKittrick, Missouri .

The town  is small according to wikipedia and US census  in 2010 the city had a 678 inhabitants per square mile (261.7/km²). There were 36 housing units at an average density of 400.0 per square mile (154.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 100.0% White .Reference: US Gazette

The Easter postcards was written on April 11, 1911 Holy Tuesday and was delivered sometime April 12, 1911 Holy Wednesday  to Mr and Mrs. Andy  Schroff from Mc Kittrick , Missouri – It was send by their cousin to congratulate them for having a daughter Lucile and greeting them Happy Easter. Easter falls on April 16, 1911 .

I got this postcard from a local bourse several years ago

 

 

Postcards from Different Countries

I would like to THANK those gracious postcard swappers , collectors, travellers which send me postcards and being part of their travels. Special mention are the couple Ms. Pamela Marcelo Lumagui and husband who gave me postcards and paper money from Turkey , Ms. Febe Sevilla for the Singapore postcards , Mr.Mac Pagsolingan for the Indonesian, China and Singapore paper money , Mr. Frandel Recto ( stamp and Pope Francis coin)

I received some postcards from different parts of the world.  It took a while before those postcards arrived our club’s Manila Central P.O. Box 2986 due to the long Christmas holidays , other official and unofficial holidays.

Europe map postcard- This is one of the cute ones that i got

I have been quite happy and sad for all those postcards that did not arrived on time, the ones that i have send and still waiting until now , There are some bad swappers ,   slow postal delivery system and maybe theft ???? . While there are some postcards that did not arrive at all! I have an aunt ( she lived in Atlanta , Georgia- USA)  who send me 3 postcards last year and none arrived!

There are a couple of postcard collectors SWAP from the Middle East and India which i never got any of their swap items at all.

I always got some peculiar emails from different parts of the world ,  In particular ( Canada) last April 2015 inquiring about the Philippines-Israel stamp and FDC’s , Since I am not a stamp nor an FDC ( First Day Cover ) dealer or seller . I had to wait until the Easter Holidays just to know the availability of the FDC.   Got no email for this person on what items she wanted to swap or exchange for the FDC’s and stamps.

cat postcard from Netherland send by Ms. Wilma van Vegten( Postcard Lotteries for Real Facebook Page)

( Unfortunately , I got this after more than a month with ugly postal mark ) This was send last July 2015 but i manage to got them past September 2015

To cut the story short , Our swap agreement did not materialized and this same person, emailed several local stamp dealers and collectors wanted to buy or swap items which did not even materialized at all.

When we compared notes and stories , We all got the same person with same email address  ( Ms. IB)  The moral of the story is that , If you want to swap items from the Philippines , You have to know how to properly transact and deal with local people.

Buying stamps and even postcards is not a fast one, especially in the Philippines – Not all post offices carry new stamp issues and you must know how to wait. If you do not want to transact with local stamp collectors , there are several internet , facebook and buying sites which sells Philippine stamps at a certain profit margin. I do not know if PHLPOST website is active selling newly issued stamps and FDC’s internationally, perhaps why try those services?

I only keep a handful of  stamps and FDC’s especially the souvenir sheets and FDC’s had additional 12%  Value Added Tax imposed by Bureau of Internal Revenue ( BIR) implemented by PHLPOST since last January 2015.

Those people who wanted to dispose their stamps, appraise their collections must try to take photos of their collections and send them to my email for proper consultation with local collectors. I  serves as a bridge for sellers and buyers of stamps. Most of the time , There are no takers since stamp being sold is too expensive and there are no stamp collectors willing to buy them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society Inc. Pre-Symposium Tree Walk

 

MSI- Arboretum and Auditorium, University of the Philippines, Diliman , Quezon City -Philippines

PNPCSI symposium secretariat

This is the 3rd PNPCSI Pre- Symposium registration and after the successful hosting of the 2 previous symposium – National Museum in 2013 and Pampanga Agricultural College in 2014 , It is now the University of the Philippines- Diliman ( Institute of Marine Science and Institute of Botany ) which so-hosted the venue place.

UP Tree walk participants

Compared to the previous symposium . There are more people which are interested in joining the pre-symposium tree walk and botanical museum tour. I have not got the exact participants since it was the pre-registration period . Publicity and Promotion is quite good . There is an active FB event page made for the event : https://www.facebook.com/events/661942930616629/

The author saw some moving ads at several hybrid bus routes of  Bonifacio Global City last week .

Architect Andrew Patrick -Gozon

Unluckily, I was stuck at the horrendous traffic jam created by the sudden closure of the main street leading to the University of the Philippines from SM North EDSA terminal – There are very few jeepneys going to the campus and it took me more than 1 hour just waiting . The closure was cause by the yearly Christmas lightning  ceremony and by-standers thought it was due to the Monthly SALE and road drainage excavations in North Avenue and Quezon Avenue that traffic was almost took to a standstill .

herbarium tour

The herbarium tour started at around past 3:00pm with a short introduction from the professors and staffs. This is a niche tour since most of the participants are botany, biology  professors , students and enthusiasts.

herbarium specimen

Sudden attack of arthritis prompted our jeepney driver to cut his route forcing us just to walk along C.P. Garcia on the way to the symposium site .  I arrived past 2:00pm after over 2 hours of being stuck in the traffic and walking several kilometers along C.P. Garcia street.

AGHAM

I joined the herbarium tour and UP native tree walk organized by the organization and led by Architect Andrew Patrick Gozon. This area is now being developed as an arboretum  and living botanical collections of the University . We met a group of AGHAM students taking group photo and they are not connected with the party-list group which also bears similar name and almost the same platform – Science and Technology.

t-shirts with pnpcsi logo being sold at Php 100 small, Php 120 medium and Php 150 extra-large

for souvenir hunters and memorabilia collectors -there are small booth which sells t-shirt, mugs with pnpcsi logo and 2016 Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society Inc. native plant detachable calendar set . They are ideal Christmas and New Year present .

 Mr. Niel Maceda- LOC-PHIL ( League of Conservation -Philippines ) together with Dr. Pieter Pelse

For postcard and letter collectors around the world will surely marvel the limited edition postcards. They are being sold for Php 150 per calendar for non-members . Proceeds will go to the various environmental and tree planting activities by the society.

Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society 2016-calendar /postcard

There are already over 100 species of native and indigenous tree planted over the  2 to 3 years and markers are now being installed . The 2 hectares of land is being dedicated to Professor Leonard Co – a well known botanist of the country who was killed in a tragic death in Leyte on November 15, 2010.

 L-R Mr. JM Pacheco, Ms. Abby Dizon and Mr. Jojo Vale

Leslie Food Corporation – manufacturer of Leslie’s Clover chips , Clover Cheezy gave away some free sampling of their chips to the participants. The company is one of the staunch supporter and sponsors of the event.

Address: Main Office: #4 Dama de Noche St., United Parañaque Subdivision 4, Parañaque City

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/lesliecorporation

Luckily i was given a piece of paper by one of the board member of the society . It seems that some of the event partners staffs are quite shy to answer some queries when they heard that i am blogging and writing a story about the event.

Here are some of the event sponsors which donated some of the company products, services and sponsorship .

1.) Leslie Corporation -Mr. Boby Wong Jr. and Deng Montealegre

2.) AyalaLand Development Corporation – Ms. Anna Gonzales

3.) First Gas Power Corporation – Mr. Chito P. Panzo

4.) Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation , Inc.- Atty. Jose Andres Canivel

5.) Energy Development Corporation -Atty. Allan Barcena and Mr. Jimson Solatre

6.) Quezon Power Plant Corporation-  Chukie Rivera and Ms. Eliza Rehal

7.) TeaM Energy Corporation- Ms. Hazel Caasi and Jules Escasura

8.) MRL Gold Corporation : Mr. Eduardo Manuel and Herbert Banados Jr.

9.) JSA Company : Mr. Joseph Server and  Ms. Rose Palou

10.) Biodiversity Partnership Project of BMB: Mr. Joey Regunay and Edge Genciagan

11.) CORE/ Prime group: Ms. Kristine Villaflor

Those who wanted to join the symposium, there are still slots available for the symposium to be held tomorrow at the MSI ( Marine Science Institute ) Auditorium within the University of the Philippines- Diliman , Quezon City .

Note: I will write the tree walk by Architect Andrew Patrick Gozon in my next post. I walk again together with Ms. Kaye Tayamora from MSI auditorium to PHLCOA ( before she took an AUV ) then  to Trinoma before getting a decent jeepney ride home. This is like APEC walkathon going back home.